Friday ~ The Doctor is In

Remember last week how I mentioned that my brother was building me something? You might actually have had a sneak peak of it on Wednesday. But yes, my 13 year old brother Stuart built me...

My very own TARDIS!

Blog people, meet TARDIS. TARDIS, meet blog people.

Stuart spent several days on this little wonder of construction, and I couldn't possibly be more pleased with it! And it even opens up on the top, becoming a nifty little place to put stuff! It may not be bigger on the inside, but in every single way, it's perfect!

My TARDIS has a place of honor up on the top of my bookshelf where everyone who walks into my room can't help but see it's amazing self.

 Check out all the detail! It clocks in at about 8 inches tall and is made entirely from wood. Stuart carefully took measurement, studied pictures, did and re-did portions of it, gluing pieces together until he was satisfied that it was a true likeness. I agree, don't you? For the windows and Police Call Box logo, he carefully designed, sized and printed from the computer using Paint.

 I'm going to cherish this little guy, and not just because I'm a Doctor Who fan.

I'm going to cherish it the most because I'm a Stuart fan. I may be 12 years older than Stuart, almost twice his age, but I truly, truly consider Stuart as one of my best friends. He's my "chum for chum" (the silly name I've called him ever since watching Finding Nemo), my fellow cat lover, and has always been there to go on adventures with me or to just sit around the house talking and telling jokes. He has a hilarious sense of humor and is always coming up with unique nicknames for me, the family and our cats. 

He's always up for helping me with any project, is usually found out in the garage/work shop designing and making other wooden wonders like my TARDIS (how about a working catapult, trebuchet, and ballista, designed and constructed entirely from his own research and imagination!). Stuart is a hard-working, determined young man with a great great sense of humor and a very intelligent and creative mind. He can also tell you pretty much anything you want to know about US coins and can find miniscule markings on coins that I absolutely cannot see, no matter how hard I try.

Stuart is 13 years old and already he challenges me in my faith. He's a stickler for upholding what truth and what's right and he never wavers in his beliefs. I admire that tremendously about him. He also is brave and not afraid of confrontation when confrontation is needed. He speaks his mind and is not afraid to call me out on something that I'm doing wrong. That is true courage, the righteous kind. I have so much to learn from Stuart.

Thank you, Stuart, for building me a TARDIS, for being brave with me when I moved out, for chanting "Who can do it? You can!" with me as I struggled against tears as I packed up my stuff, for always being there for me, bringing me a cat when I was sad (because you always know that cheers me up!), for reminding me to live more like Jesus and for being the BEST youngest brother I could EVER wish for.

{ November 2012 }

Thursday ~ Don't.Stop.Believin' (Wk 4)

• I believe in the occasional Green Tea Frappuccino.
• I believe in planning fun "adventures" with Stuart while most of the other siblings are gone for the summer.
• I believe that flip-flops should be considered appropriate work attire.
• I believe in bobby pins and paper clips. They have far more uses that just holding together hair and paper.
• I believe in friends who send me phone pictures of their cats because they know that I'm missing mine so much. Thanks, Brea!
• I believe too strongly in Chocolate Moose Tracks ice cream. Three bowls too strong.
• I believe in sunglasses all the time.
• I believe in messy hair buns.
• I believe in sleeping in a cold room under a huge mound of warm blankets.
• I believe in snuggling up with my niece before putting her into bed and reading "The Princess & the Pea." With different voices for different characters.
• I believe in talks with my 19 year old brother Scott about the Rapture and end times stuff.
• I believe in listening to music in the car and pretending I'm in a movie and the songs are my soundtrack. You know you do it, too.
• I believe in Andy Griffith & Dick Van Dyke.
• I believe in using turn signals and thinks everyone should believe in that, too.
• I believe in Super Saver Shipping.

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Wednesday ~ A Little Bit of My House & Other House-y Stuff

Happy Wednesday! Today I just have a few random snapshots of my morning, taken in the few spare moments between eating my bowl of Life cereal and bolting out the door to my car. Pictures have, sadly, been put on the back-burner of my life the past week, especially as I still don't have internet at my new house or my photo editing software installed on my laptop.

{ a small glimpse of my room in it's temporary state before I get the rest of my furniture // my sweet smelling rose candle from Ikea }

{ family and friends }

_____________________

Because there's just been so much going on and so many little things swirling around in my head, I'm going to take advantage of what other blogger's have been doing and do a "collage" of thought:

Concerning housewarming: I'm now the very happy owner of my very own tv! My sister Kristine and brother-in-law Mark knocked my socks off by giving me a tv for my birthday/house-warming/just-because-they're-amazing present.  Mark & Co. came over last night to help set it up and we (me and my sister Katheryn, who was spending the night just because we do that kind of fun stuff) gave it it's maiden movie-watching voyage on "The Ruby in the Smoke." Which we both highly enjoyed and I'm sure my liking it had nothing to do with Matt Smith or JJ Field playing prominent roles. Really, I'm sure it didn't.

Concerning anniversaries: Yesterday was my one week anniversary of moving out. I planned on "celebrating" it by actually not going Home.. Because, even though I've moved out, I've still gone Home for either dinner, hanging out, packing up stuff or to celebrate birthday eve's every single day since then. But Mom called yesterday afternoon and said I'd gotten some packages in the mail, so I just had to go home. But that's okay. I was missing them a lot yesterday, so I sorta wanted to go home anyway. :)

Concerning music: Been listening to Plumb lately and really enjoying her style.

Concerning cats: Can I just take a moment and confess how much I miss my cats? Because I really, really, really, really, really do miss them. I have a soul-connection with cats and not having them around for the first time in my whole life is really causing some strong internal anguish! Yes, I know...I'm that crazy cat lady.

Concerning Paint: if anybody out there is thinking of painting their walls a light shade of gray, consider Benjamin Moore's Stonington Gray. It's gorgeous. It makes you happy just walking into the room. I may or may not have actually hugged my wall a time or two...

Concerning crock pots: does anybody have any good crock pot recipes that aren't full of onions, peppers, tomatoes and other such ingredients? This picky eater is embracing the wonders of a crock pot and I need some good recipes! Specifically ones that can be eaten for lunch the next day, too.

Concerning cyber mistakes: I think if I were to look up the word "panic" in the dictionary this morning, I would read:

PANIC:

The act of thinking you sent a highly sensitive and enormously confidential email to the very person you did NOT want to send that email.

And if I were to look up the word "relief," it would say:

RELIEF:

Finding out you didn't.

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With that, I'll be done. Have a good day, my cyber and not-so-cyber friends! What are you "concerning" about today?

Tuesday ~ That Night We Danced 'Til Midnight

For the optimal viewing experience for this post, please grab a cold glass of sweet tea and play some toe-tappin' bluegrass music. You might just feel like you're actually there.

The day of the dance was spent is preparation. There was lights to be strung, wild-flowers to be beautified, tables and chairs to be set up,  and of course, a prominent display of the Confederate flag. Just because we can.

Part of our spring theme was hanging lanterns and I quite happily was on lantern duty. There a bit more wind that we'd have custom ordered, but not so much that our lovely lanterns were in any danger.

And then...

The people came. And the fun began!

Above right: Scott and I dancing the Virginia Reel, my favorite dance. Because it's amazing.

One of my favorite parts of the evening is seeing other people having so much fun - it makes all the time and work spent on the dance so completely worth it!

As in traditional form, the night ends with a waltz, which is one of my favorite dances. And ladies, my brothers aren't shabby dancers! They know their stuff and they're my favorite guys to dance with. 

People were there until midnight and beyond...which even then, the evening seemed to just go by way too fast! As the last guests left, we slowly began gathering the remnants of an evening well spent...

...and then hit the hay. Pun definitely intended.  The next 48 hours were spent in talking about it, over and over and over again, perfecting ideas, telling stories and of course, brainstorming and planning for the next one.

Scheduled for August 16th, y'all! If you're nearby and want to come, consider yourself invited. :)

Photos by mom and me. She took all the good ones. :)

Friday ~ Don't.Stop.Believing (Wk 3)

{ another picture of my lens mug just because it's so awesome }

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• I believe in Life cereal.
• I believe in celebrating birthday eve's.
• I believe that Eddie Redmayne sings like Kermit the Frog. Yah, you know it.
• I believe in bobby pins.
• I believe in cherry coke and popcorn at movie theaters. 
• I believe in yard sales and awesome deals.
• I believe in rolling down the windows while driving in a car with your siblings on long country roads after dark and barking out the window. Just because it's hilarious.
• I believe in learning how to use a crock pot.
• I believe in turning off the lights in your office when you leave for the night so the office girl doesn't have to always do it for you. Looking right at my coworkers.
• I believe in taking the longer way home even if it means just not sitting in traffic for an insufferable amount of time.
• I believe in Disney princesses, even if they give me an unrealistic view of love. :)
• I believe in not imagining scary monsters and other unsavory things when sleeping in your own room for the first time in your life. 
• I believe that ferrets should be legal pets. Because I want one.
• I believe in terrible puns.
• I believe in Sonic Happy Hour. Best invention ever.

Thursday ~ Sunshine And How a Bag of Potatoes Reduced Me to Tears

I'd like to announce that I've now survived two nights at my new place. The first night I had my sister Katheryn with me for moral support (and I'm not ashamed of it!) and last night I went solo. And it was a pretty uneventful night's sleep, despite waking up freezing cold and realizing that I couldn't just go grab a blanket from the blanket cupboard...because I don't have a blanket cupboard.

I've already found an unexpected blessing in my new room. It faces the sunrise! Now, I'm usually a sunset kind of gal, but sunrises have their own kind of beauty. And at 7am in the morning while I'm getting ready for work, having that cheery warm sun flooding my room is like a special "good morning" from God.

My two zebras have been given places of honor in my room. Hopefully you know by now that I love zebras and these guys are special to me. The "mommy zebra" (above) was given to me by dad two Christmas's ago and the "baby zebra" (below) was given to me this past Christmas by my 13 year old brother, Stuart. Who's also building me a model TARDIS for my desk. 

Yes. Be jealous.

My amazing friend Brea gave me the little chalkboard photo-frame (barely seen next to the little zebra) last week. It was my first house-warming gift. She said it's for me to write inspiring bible verses/quotes on and that's exactly what I plan to do with it. Once I remember to bring the chalk to my new house, haha.

 

Yesterday, I confess to being somewhat on the depressed side as I got home from work. I was in a hurry because I was running late for babysitting my niece and nephew, I was tired, emotional, hungry, and my house had no food in it yet...and I just wanted to go home. "Home" being Home-with-a-capital-H-where-my-family-is. As I ran from my car up to the door (none of my house-mates where home yet), I saw in the alcove next to the front door...three big bags of groceries. I was confused as to who's they were...until I saw the package of Keebler's Coconut Dreams. My favorite cookie. And I knew they were specially for me. From my sister Katheryn.

And I promptly starting crying.

Because she's just amazing that way. My whole family is. And I love them so much. 

Inside the grocery bags, were not just several of my favorite guilty pleasures (pop tarts, Arizona teas, Coconut Chocolate Chip Cliff bars, jello, etc), but there was also a glorious supply of kitchen staples - flour, baking soda, baking powder, butter, even a big bag of potatoes. All the stuff needed to start my new home. I pretty much cried while I carried all the bags in and began putting all those treausres away.

Then I went and picked up my niece and nephew...and took them Home. And I hung out at Home with my family and it felt like nothing had really changed. Yes, I live somewhere else...but the thing that really matter haven't changed. I still dumped my purse into "our" room, still talked to mom about my day, still got my "TARDIS update" from Stuart, still sat on the floor of "our" room with my two sisters, talking and laughing while I did my nails. I know over time the change will  become wider in some places, but I know where it really matters it's going to stay the same. 

Because whereas a lot may change in my life...I love my family.

And that will never change.

Tuesday ~ The Day I Ate a Bag of White Powdered Donuts

Let me tell you about my week:

 Studied paint swatches until I was blue in the face. Literally. All my "gray" paints kept turning blue on the wall.

Made multiple trips back and forth from home to the new house. 

 Decorated, prepped and primped for the barn dance.

 { my new camera lens mug (aka the coolest mug ever!) // dance prep }

Danced the night away and didn't get to bed until well after midnight. There was no glass slipper involved.

Got in bed but then had to chase down a hairy spider that had fallen from the wall and behind/on/into my bed.

Woke up so sore I could literally barely move. 

{ a few quick shots of the magical evening }

Spent 6+ hours with two amazing brothers painting my room what finally became the perfect gray.

Rushed madly home and went to a hang-out night with my peeps. Covered in gray paint.

Went to church and groaned every time we had to stand because I was so sore and tired.

Spend all afternoon walking around Ikea. I did get my bookcase and a piece of chocolate cake out of it.

Spent a fun evening around the fire pit with my family bundled up against the wind. Bittersweet time, as it was my "going away" party. 

Spent the rest of the evening packing up my entire life into boxes.

Got in bed and cried myself to sleep because it was my last night to sleep in my bed, in my home, with my family.

Went bed shopping with Dad and couldn't find any. Hence, one more night in my own bed, in my own home, with my family. 

Had four new tires put on my car, went shopping for staple household supplies (who knew laundry soap was so expensive, huh?), picked up my bookcase from my soon-to-be-house.

Spent the evening painting it. 

That's been my week.

{ too-blue paint swatches //  the key to "my" first house-away-from-home }

This morning so far?

Woke up without nearly enough sleep.

Almost got in a wreck on the freeway.

Got to watch two cars have a honking/finger-flipping war over who was actually responsible for the near accident.

Ate almost half a bag of white powdered donuts because it seemed like the best idea at the time.

Got honked at by a van of prison inmates. 

Not sure if that was a compliment or not.

 To my lovely blog friends, wonderful family and the quiet blog stalkers who read this blog...

Have a lovely day filled with adventures.

Even if that adventure is simply a bag of white powdered donuts and wearing flip-flops under your office desk where no one can see.

Thursday ~ Don't.Stop.Believing. (Wk. 2)

{some of us being us - this is why it's hard to leave home, ya'll!}

--------------------

I believe that Robert Pattinson is not handsome.

I believe men aren't the only ones who should have hairless upper lips.  Eight years of waxing backin' me up.
I believe in long, quiet walks in cemeteries.
I believe in music turned up loud enough to dance to.
I believe that thigh-high shorts for men is a fashion trend that should have staid in the 80's.
 I believe in sitting on porch swings to watch life go by for a little while.
I believe in Merlin quotes.
I believe in my brother, who is a beast with power tools.
 I believe in old books, old pictures, and old cars.
I believe in having two best friends as house-mates.
I believe in never sleeping in an unmade bed.

I believe there should be a law against breathing out of your mouth after eating peanut butter.

I believe in at least three slices of peperoni pizza.

I believe in not playing any board game that last longer than my twenty minute game-attention span.

I believe in sweet potato fries, especially when they're dipped in nacho cheese.

Tell me what you're believing' in today!

Wednesday ~ Life Lessons: Adventures in Moving Out, 1st Ed.

I stated yesterday in the grand moving out reveal to "prepare for new adventures." What I forgot is that sometimes, adventures come in the form of lessons. And sometimes lessons are learned the hard way.

Last night, I had my first lesson in this moving out adventure.

This Friday night is our Annual Spring Dance. Remember the Autumn Dance from back in November? Well, in the same way that South America is "like America, but south," this Spring dance is like our Autumn dance...only in spring. In essence, that's code for a lot of work. And guess who's one of the principal players in the Getting Everything Ready department? Yup, me. And once again, guess who's been so self-absorbed in moving out that she's forgotten about anything else? Yes, me.

Yes, I'm moving out. But truth is...I don't have to move out this weekend (ie. day after the dance). I don't have to paint my room tonight. In my flurry over getting stuff for my room, agonizing over paint swatches and talking nonstop about moving...I've forgotten my commitment was to doing this dance. Which I'm so excited about, really, and can't wait for Friday to get here! But I've dropped the ball, which forced my family to pick up my slack. I've not been there for big planning moments, I've not helped with getting the lights figured out, I've pawned off MY BIG PROJECT onto my brother (who was helping me with it just because he's so amazing that way), I've forgotten to go pick up stuff I was supposed to pick up and all in all...shrugged it off on everyone else.

But the dance isn't my only commitment, neither is it my first. Because I also have a family I'm committed to, whom I love to the point of idol-worship (perhaps a post for a later day), and who themselves have to deal with the fact that with me moving out, life is changing drastically for everyone. Maybe hating change is a family trait, maybe it's because we're glued together tighter than most, maybe it's because we've just been together as family for so long...but me moving out really rocks the boat for all of us. And it's hard for all of us. We just love that deeply here.

But I've been running around like a headless chicken (which, for the record, don't actually run - they bounce), focusing on my time schedule...which has been so full of me being gone doing moving stuff, that I've not given anyone, let alone myself, the chance to just sit and be family living together one last time. I've made myself Number One, maneuvered everyone else around me to benefit me, and not taken the time to just be with my family.

Because I was so caught up in my plans, my time schedule, and my future.

Throw in that, plus getting this dance pulled together, and we have...

 Hi, I'm Kellie and I'm selfish, self-serving, manipulative, and self-absorbed. 

I don't want to move out this way. I don't want this crazy busy, self-absorbed person to be the girl who moves out. I want to love on my family, relish those casual talks around the kitchen, soak in the times spent curled up watching Andy Griffith after dinner, and just being.

Anyways, of course I'm still moving out and moving out very soon. But I'm putting the brakes on a little, at least until after the dance on Friday. 

So, I've learned my first lesson on this adventure of Moving Out before I even moved out. I'm really glad that God so gently pressed this on my heart last night (while in the shower, no less), and that I can shift my focus from me back onto, first and foremost, the One whom I serve on a daily basis and Who also commands me to "think of others better than myself."

Let's try this again.

Tuesday ~ Starbucks Tuesday + a Big Life-Changing Announcement

Happy Starbucks Tuesday once again, my fine friends!

I decided to break away from my well-loved and well-tried (but still favored!) tea lemonades, so that I could try the new drink at Starbucks. I was hanging between two friends - one who said it was amazing and one who said it wasn't all that grand. And so in order to give a fair representation, today I tried the:

Drum roll, please! My consensus is: average. Nothing more than good, nothing less than good. Just average good. I can't even taste anything hazelnutty or much of a taste other than what the regular caramel macchiato tastes like....said the girl who doesn't actually like coffee. Perhaps all my taste buds could process was the stronger-that-I-like-it coffee taste. :)

Side note...do you know how hard it is to take pictures while sitting in your car in a parking lot? There's people walking by, people randomly sitting in their cars....all just so ready to watch the strange girl holding the big camera taking self-portraits and close-ups of a coffee cup. Stealth is my word when I'm trying to take my coffee pictures and it's like people pop out of the pavement on jack-in-the-box springs all around my car, making it almost impossible for me to not look like that girl with the camera taking self-portraits of herself. Oh, how vain.

It's lilac season right now, or rather, the beginning of the end of lilac season and I've been so busy lately I haven't had time to "drink them in," so I quickly snagged a few sprigs as I was heading out the drive way. Aren't lilacs the most wonderful flower ever? I'm pretty sure heaven will be filled with the overpower scent of lilacs. Really. It has to be.

And this morning, I was listening to one of my favorite worship albums My Savior Lives, by New Life Worship...who is actually Desperation Band in disguise. Track #3 is pretty much my favorite worship song ever.

Let me tell you a little bit about myself...

- I was the girl who grew up never ever thinking about a career.
- I was the girl who never thought she’d ever actually have to work a job to pay her way through life.
- I was the girl who thought she would get married pretty much as soon as she reached marriageable age.
- I was the girl who wanted to graduate, marry at 18 and start having ten boys right away.

- I was the girl who never thought she’d see 20 and still be single.
- I was the girl who never, ever thought in a million years that she’d move out on her own.
- I was the girl who though other girls who moved out on their own were rebellious.

But now?

I'm the twenty-six year old single woman working a full-time job and who's now taking the next step and moving out on her own.

Yes, folks, you heard it right - Kellie's going solo! The past few weeks have been a volcano of conflicting emotions. On one hand, there's total radical excitement about living life as a fully independent woman...and on the other hand, there's times of hysterical crying into a pillow in the closet  because I'm leaving home, family and everything that's ever been my faithful, reliable constant. I don't like change, I don't handle it well, and frankly, moving out is something I never, ever, ever saw myself doing. It was just never something I ever though I'd be in a position or in a place in life to do that. In the Gospel According to Kellie, I should be married right now with like four little boys running around my ankles.

But life didn't go the way I planned it. All those ideals, visions and yes, misguided concepts have proved false, some more so than others. I mean really, I'm moving out and I'm not being rebellious?!? I have my parent's full blessing?!? Haha. So, whereas I may not have the life I always wanted...you know what's happening here?

I'm getting the life I never even dreamed of!!   

Because it's gonna be different, but seriously, people? It's gonna rock!

And so, after weeks and months of praying, long talks with my parents, and honestly, a LOT of tears and a LOT of raging emotions (remember, change is hard for me and I've been a home-lovin', family-worshippin', safe-haven-huggin' girl for twenty-six years!), I am indeed....moving out.

Or rather, as I like to say (since "moving out" does sound like there's insidious rebellion lurking behind my motives!), I am "relocating."

Prepare for new adventures to begin.