A New Direction

Ah... at last... Fall is upon us!! The wind slowly stopped blowing from the south and started blowing from the north. It's brought some long-awaited cooler weather. It's supposed to get down to 49-degrees tonight, with only a high of 70-degrees tomorrow. Whoo-hoo!! I arrived home this evening after work and opened up several windows so as to have a nice breeze blowing through the house. It provided a nice change. I've also turned my A/C off... The electric company probably won't be happy, but I'm ecstatic!

So, welcome to Fall... another good reason to write a poem. I may have to do that later, though. It's past my bedtime.

G'night, y'all.

Weekend w/ Nat, et al.

I had a pretty busy weekend - went up to KC to spend a bit of time with my family. We had a family baby shower for Natalie on Saturday and her baby dedication at church on Sunday. The trip was way too short, but I was happy to be there. I would typically stay with my parents, but they had other company (namely my Grandma, Aunt Janelle and Uncle Eddie). So, instead, I stayed at Michelle's and John's AND NATALIE'S!!! So, I got some great quality time with the baby. I didn't even mind the occasional burping (Nat seems to love spitting up on her Aunt Krista!) and diaper changing. She's a real cutie, so somehow the rest doesn't bother me.

But, hats off to Michelle and John... and all parents for that fact. Parenting is not even comparable to a full-time job. It never ends...

Anyway, I've included a pic below so that you can get a small glimpse at Natalie's cuteness.

Nat 

Poems about Pancakes... Banana Pancakes

The following poems are dedicated to all of the banana pancakes in La Jolla, California...

Cove Cakes

Come to me, my darling pancakes -

Onto my fork and into my mouth!

Verify your status among all

Edible delights.

Cause my tastebuds to explode in jubilation,

And sing your praises in all restaurants, so everyone may

Know of your succulence and

Elevate your name on menus everywhere, thus

Securing your place on breakfast plates, both now and forever.

Banana Pancakes

As the first morning light pours into the room,

I feel a faint breeze across my cheek

as it makes its way in from the salty sea.

A seagull, acting as my own personal rooster,

wakes me from a peaceful slumber.

Oh what a day! A perfect day, I'd say!

After pulling on my faded jeans and getting dressed,

my feet take me instinctively to a quaint cottage -

the quintessential place for a leisure-filled day like today.

The menu begs for my attention, overwhelming me with possibilities -

a million varieties of eggs alone!

But, there's really only one choice for me - banana pancakes!

I KNOW I just had them yesterday,

but I'm helpless to resist their sweet and powerful invitation.

The pancakes swim through my senses - not just my tastebuds.

I know understand the woman behind me taking pictures of her breakfast.

How long can this last, you ask? Not long enough.

Before I know it, my bare plate stares me in the face,

asking me where my beloved pancakes have gone.

But, never fear! There's always tomorrow morning!

La Jolla

Well, well, well... I've finally experienced the worst of La Jolla's weather. It's been lightening most of the night. (This after the most amazing sunset tonight.) The lightening has been pretty spectacular, but has still stayed a fairly good distance from us. And the thunder has been plentiful... mostly the low-rumbly variety.

I'm reminded of a time I was in Ensenada, Baja California (not too far south of here), and some locals were trying to apologize for the 75-degree and sunny weather... the kind of day we midwesterners wait for all year long and then cherish for days and years to come.

I kept expecting it to pour down rain, because it seems that thunder and lightening of this kind are almost always companions of a wonderful thunderstorm. However, after what seems like hours of thunder and lightening, it only rained lightly, sprinkled really. It was enough for me, however, to get up out of bed and close the door to the veranda. And that was really more for the benefit of the homeowners than for my protection. In fact, I may open it again now, as it doesn't seem to be raining any more.

My trip has been delightful so far, if you were wondering. It's so nice not to be constrained by a daily planner. We get up when we will, eat at our leisure and do whatever we want, whenever we want. We've pretty much lounged around here - have done some reading by the pool, napping (for certain) and have taken some leisurely strolls down to the beach, occasionally stopping to play near the water's edge. I've more than once come home with the bottom of my pantlegs soaked with ocean water and coated with sand. We've also eaten at some nice restaurants... mostly choosing local flavor over any chain. Our only "deviations" were Wahoo (known for their fish tacos) and In-n-Out Burgers; however, even these are found only in California (or at least in this region of the country). My favorite have been some of our breakfast selections - Harry's and The Cottage. We made a trip in to the Gas Lamp District last night for dinner. Our selection was a place called "Johnnie Love's." It had a live jazz band and the best pork chop I've ever had.

I'll probably have more stories to add later, but really we've just kicked back to relax, so that limits some of the stories. I'll tell you about the books I'm reading later, too, as they have nothing to do with La Jolla itself.

Nat

I've included the best pic I have so far of my 4-week old niece, Natalie Renee. She's a cutie, no? :) I haven't seen her since her third day of live, but she'll be coming to visit me on Friday!!!! I'm very excited to hold her. I've had much more face time with the Tulsa babies, so I'm anxious to catch up on holding my niece. My 3-year old niece, Erin, will also be in town this weekend, and her birthday was last week. So, we may need to have a bit of a celebration when she gets here, since I wasn't able to make the party last weekend.

Well, I've been feeling kind of sickly today... nothing real particular... just not quite right. I stayed home as to make a quick recovery. So, I s'pose I should be in bed.

Have a good night, all!

Natalie 

Das bebes

Well, I had the babies (and parents) over tonight for dinner. I made my Grandpa Looney's "saucy chicken and rice." Mmmmmm. I haven't had it in ages, and it wasn't as good as I remember Grandpa's being. But, it was pretty good. I was hoping to make his hard rolls, too, but my lawn needed some serious attention, and it won out.

Luke & Seth are both pretty cute. I was hoping they would be a bit more lively, though. They just slept most of the time. It was good to get everyone together.

I'm anxious for my fam to come next weekend for Labor Day. I'm looking forward to seeing them all. But, I'm particularly looking forward to seeing my new niece, Natalie. :) I'm sure she's changed a ton in these past few weeks since she was born!

Claim to Fame

I just found out that one of my high school classmates is one of the cast members on the next Survivor - Survivor Guatemala. I guess I'll be watching. It looks like she's an early pick to win, too (based on the casino odds)! Good luck, Danielle!

Birthdays

Well, I turned another year older this week. Thirty-one seems quite a bit older than even thirty did. Oh well. I had fun celebrating with friends. Wednesday evening, my friend Matthew gathered several of my friends for dinner. We went to P.F. Chang's. It was the first outting with Tim & Laurel and baby Seth. So... I chuckled to myself during the dinner... as we struggled to find a place to put the baby. (I think he finally ended up under the table!) I just sat there and thought... "welcome to a new of life of friends with kids." But, we had a great time. Matthew paid for everyone's dinner, so that was a special treat! After dinner we went back to his house for cake and ice cream. It was a Chocolate Ganache cake that said, "Happy Birthday" in red lettering. It was yummy.

Thursday night (my actual birthday) was small group night, and I wasn't sure whether or not they were even aware of my birthday. I later discovered that they were WELL aware. We had Bible study at the regular time, but about 8:30 ten to fifteen more people came over to join the party! We had some good eats and fun games - including "Pin the Tail on the Donkey."

My notable gifts included... a bracelet, three tiered glass candle holders, a SNL video (best of Christopher Walken), Tuti-Fruity candles, soap from the Red Dirt Soap Company, the Beatles 1 CD and a small picture frame.

At some point this week, I tried to remember how I celebrated my Tulsa birthdays...

1999 - Went to Eskimo Joe's in Stillwater with the Mag 7
2000 - Ate with nine of my friends at Cardigan's
2001 - Moving Day (moved into a new apartment)
2002 - Celebrated August Birthdays over at Andra's house
2003 - Ate dinner at P.F. Chang's (with Matthew and Erin)
2004 - Semi-surprise party thrown by Matthew, and nearly slept through dinner with some friends on the day of my birthday (this one deserves a whole separate blog)!
2005 - Described above. :)

Coffee Cups, etc.

Hello good people of the blogging world! I haven't posted for nearly a week, and I've been missing it. I visited some friends the other night, and they were threatening to hunt down my blog. So... let me know J&B when you find it... :)

I had to get over to Pier 1 tonight, because I had a gift card that I thought would soon expire. (I realized after getting there that I have another year before it expires.) It's not that I don't like Pier 1 or can't find things there I like. The opposite is more the case. I like so many things that I can't decide on one thing to use the gift card on. I'll think... "oh, that's neat," but "I guess I really don't need that." So, I vascillate between liking things and vetoing them because of their impractical nature. But, I finally decided on something tonight - two somethings actually - twelve somethings, really. I bought a set of heavy ceramic mixing bowls (4 total) and eight coffee cups that look to be hand-painted - with brilliant colored vertical stripes on them. So, I ended up going over my gift card amount by $25. Figures. But, I think I'm happy with my selections.

So... I'm debating something recently... maybe you can help! I'm wondering if it's a terrible waste of money to hire someone to clean my house. Here lately I'm doing good just to get it picked up. It would make me feel much better to know it's getting a good thorough cleaning (dusting, moping, etc.) at least once a month. But, obviously it will cost me... probably between $30 and $50/month. I dunno. In some ways it seems like something I should be doing myself. But, I'm NOT doing it. And, I have a hard time truly relaxing when I there's cleaning yet to be done. So, I'd love for you to weigh in on the matter. Seriously, I want your opinion!

~Krista

Retrospect

We seem to be shaped and formed by so many things... some things we choose, others we do not. And often we do not know which things cause the most dramatic impact on our lives until we look back, many years later and see the path we left behind.

Curiosity

Why am I so afraid to know what would happen
If I stepped out of the boat?
In many ways I long to know
What it might be like
To feel the water beneath my feet -
For there to be a firm support
In the place I least expect it -
To step out, with my eyes firmly fixed

On He who can calm the storm
And bring unexpected change in every situation.
Why must I live so safely,
Surrounded by unwritten rules,
Which tell me that to step out is to risk my own life?
But then I'm reminded...
"Whoever wants to save his life will lose it,
But whoever loses his life for me will save it."

Baby-mania

Sorry for my delay in posting, but it's been a busy week. Here's the score...

Michelle & John - had Natalie Renee (my 2nd niece) on Monday (8/1)
Jim & Babs - had Luke Everett on Tuesday (8/2)
Tim & Laurel - had Seth Timothy on Friday (8/5)

How crazy is that?!?! My sister and my two dearest sets of married friends all had babies this week. I've seen all the babies, and they're all pretty adorable. I know each of these couples (as first time parents) are in for quite a radical change in their lives. But, I can't help but believe these radical changes may also affect MY life.

Ah, I feel a season of change coming on...

Anemia

I was scheduled to give blood today, but fortunately my iron-levels were too low. I say "unfortunately," because I had such a bad experience the first and only time I gave blood. No... the phlebotemist didn't poke around in my arm too many times. The actual giving wasn't too bad. But, I was worthless the rest of the day... and I ended being sick all week long. I realize these things may not have been directly related to giving blood. So, I keep telling myself I'll give it another try, because I really do think it's a good thing to do. But, I always leave a bit happy when I find out my iron levels are just low enough that I can't give. :)

Have a happy night. We're still in the countdown...

Social Butterfly

I was kind of hoping Baby Natalie would make an appearance this weekend. I've been waiting for the call. Odd thing is... I've received phone calls during the night the past TWO nights! Craziness. I rarely get calls after I've gone to bed, so it's been very odd. My first thought is.. "what's happening?"... then "who could be calling me at this hour?"... then... "oh my goodness... Michelle's gone into labor!!!!" However, that's not been the case. Two nights ago, I had a call about 3:45 AM. There was no one there. So - wrong number or something. Then last night, I got a call at 1:15 AM, but it was my friend, Mike, trying to convince me that Michelle had gone to the hospital. I didn't fall for it, though. I felt pretty certain I would have gotten a call before Mike! :) I better anyway!!!

So, it's actually worked out well that there hasn't been a baby yet. I had no less than five different offers for fun activities today - 1) go to the lake with my friend Melody and her family, 2) have dinner over at my friend, JW's house, 3) drive-in movie with a large group of friends, 4) dinner/cards and Tim & Laurels and 5) dinner/etc. at Jim & Babs'. Obviously it wasn't humanly possible to do all of those. So, I ended up doing #1 and #2. They all sounded fun, though. The lake was particularly fun! I was a bit hesitant for several reasons... 1) the baby watch, 2) needed to mow my lawn, 3) a bit of a 3rd-wheel arrangement, 4-10) swimming suit. :) But, in the end, I thought it sounded like a lot of fun... and I was right!! We water skiied and tubed. I wasn't planning to water ski, because last time I tried, it was a miserable failure. But, I went ahead and tried it anyway. It wasn't great, but I did at least get up... if only for a few BRIEF moments. I have a nice bruise on my inner thigh, though. I though I had enough padding there, but apparently not. :) So... it was tons of fun, and I got some sun. But... now I'm fairly exhausted. So, I'll say goodnight now.

"Goodnight!"

"Diary of an Old Soul" by George MacDonald

How many helps thou giv'st to those who would learn!
To some sore pain, to others a sinking heart;
To some a weariness worse than any smart;
To some a haunting, fearing, blind concern;
Madness to some; to some the shaking dart
Of hideous death still following as they turn;
To some a hunger that will not depart.

To some thou giv'st a deep unrest - a scorn
Of all they are or see upon the earth;
A gaze, at dusky night and clearing morn,
As on a land of emptiness and dearth;
To some a bitter sorrow; to some the sting
Of love misprized - of sick abandoning;
To some a frozen heart, oh, worse than anything!

The messengers of Satan think to mar,
But make - driving the soul from false to feal -
To thee, the reconciler, the one real,
In whom alone the would be and the is are met.

It's raining babies!

You've no doubt heard of the song, "It's Raining Men." Well, very soon, it's going to be raining babies. Here are the official due dates...

Aug 8 Michelle (my sister)
Aug 10 Laurel
Aug 18 Babs

So, as you can see... it's going to be a crazy month of babies. We're really expecting Michelle's and Laurel's any time. Since Chelle is in KC, I've let her know that Friday afternoon (7/29) would be a good time to go into labor, as that will allow me to make it up there for the whole experience. I saw Laurel tonight. She's waddling quite a bit more than normal and seems to be very uncomfortable. I think Tim's expecting it sometime in during the coming week.

Anyway... I continue to pray for these ladies and these families. Not only are they dear friends of mine, but I have at least a vague idea as to how dramatically their lives are about to change! I'm anxious to bear witness to all these little miracles! :)

By the way, folks...

... I made it to 3.0 miles last week. Some people can make it in 30 minutes. I made it in a month. :)

An Attempt at Nose-Piercing

This past weekend, I pulled a wire hanger from my closet and noticed a moth (not a moth, really, but a piece of fuzz) floating near my face. With my cat-like reflexes, and forgetting what I held in my hand, I attempted to swat at it. As I did, the hook of the hanger caught my right nostril. Ouch! I thought I may have pierced my own nose, it hurt so bad. I expected there to be blood pouring out of my nose, but I apparently didn't injure it too badly. It just hurt like the dickens.

So, beware, my friends, of the nefarious wire hanger.