What else but . . . S N O W

Thanks, Pam!

I received this wonderful surprise on Tuesday from my mother-in-law. Made me cry.

Oh Christmas Tree

This is my Christmas tree. Just took this picture special for you a few minutes ago. The tree has been up for a couple of weeks now, but all that I have had the time and/or energy for has been getting the first string of lights on the top, with the help of my husband (because it's not easy for a 5'2" person to decorate a 7.5' tree). After that I vowed to finish up the next day and that didn't work out so well, and the cycle continues. Christmas will be over before I even realize that it was here anyway. AT LEAST THE TREE IS UP!! And check out the outdoor lights that I put up BY MYSELF (for the most part...Joe did help clip the hooks to the roof) for the first time ever. Sure, they don't look like much compared to the neighbor's annual light show (what you see is 1/16th of their festiveness), but at least now Santa will be able to see our house AND there is a naked tree for him to put gifts under.

Details

1. Yes, I'm serious.

2. No, it wasn't planned.

3. Due sometime in July, as long as it 'sticks'. I am approximately 10 weeks along.

4. No, we won't find out the gender.

5. No, it's not very similar to my last pregnancy. That one wasn't fabulous, but so far this one is even less fabulous. Whatever. I'll get over it in 7 months.

6. We found out the first weekend in November. I thought that the flu was trying to attack me for about 2 weeks because I felt like crap but never got really sick. During a fun night out with the girls, one of them suggested that I might be pregnant. Didn't think she was right and figured I would prove her wrong, but that didn't happen. All 5 tests proved her right.

7. This has been easier to accept since my Grandpa's last evening before his death. I know he will be the angel that I need to help me through this pregnancy and on.

Riddle to Think About

Kate Has A Bun

In The Oven

Say it out loud a couple of times. This is not a joke, but it is kind of funny. I'll answer your 20 questions in another post tomorrow. Right now I need to pack for the festivities in honor of Grandpa.

Thanksgiving in Kansas

Setting up for our first ever Family Style Thanksgiving Dinner
(usually, we do it Buffet Style)

Dear Buffet Style Thanksgiving Dinner,

I am so deeply sorry that we cheated on you this year with Family Style Thanksgiving Dinner. I am sure that it won't make things any easier for you, but I must say this anyway: We really didn't enjoy it that much and we were THINKING OF YOU THE ENTIRE MEAL. Please please forgive us. I will do anything if you will just have us back next year. We will never betray you again. That may have been the toughest lesson we all learned this year. I wish we could go back and do it right, but we can't. Hopefully, we will all forget this someday.

~With More Love For You Than You Will Ever Know,
The Moulds Family

^ Family picture by Camryn, I think ^

^ I'm pretty sure that was Karina's idea. ^


^ Starting to get settled at the table...waiting for more food. ^

^ Where's Waldo...I mean, Where's Angela ^

^ You don't want to know. ^

You can't really see her, but this is

Lauren, the Pet Whisperer

Roxie in Kansas

Lola in Kansas

Karina squeezing the life out of Lola

I guess now you know who dug that hole in your yard.

Nick

Leah

Angela

This must have been taken before the enlightening anger discussion with Angela.


The Kansas Family

...and yes, culverts really are his life.

I Must Have Lost My Mind

I must have lost my mind because even though there are what seems like one hundred different things going on right now (new puppy, lots of birthdays, holidays, Tomboy Tools, full-time job, the mom thing, the wife thing, yadda yadda yadda), I decided to sign up for a photography class. That's not it!! I signed up late, so I was behind the day that I started! I should have signed up for a 'how to keep your shit together' class instead. I haven't seen that offered anywhere though.

Yoga

He's trying to teach her the Downward Dog pose.

MyFavBabySista

My baby sister is SO GORGEOUS! Click here to see what I'm talking about.

All My Peoples

"All my peoples are my best friend."

Killer Shoes

This is my new favorite pair of shoes. The shoes themselves are not new, but me wearing them is. I finally built up the courage to wear them and now I wear them a lot. And I have worn them more than twice with these pants (notice the large cuff). I have also fallen several times while wearing this combination of pants and shoes. Typically, the fall occurs when I am turning, so one foot tends to cross the path of the other foot, and in that process the heel of one shoe gets caught in the cuff of the other pant leg and next thing I know, my body is attacking the floor. I have been lucky enough in previous tumbles to fall backward (so I can bend my body and land on my bum) or to fall forward near something that I could catch myself with. Today I wasn't so lucky, but holy crap it was funny (for so many reasons).


Reason #1: I was at work. Reason #2: It happened right in front of a customer (who isn't at the top of my list of people who make me happy). Reason #3: There was no catching myself, no maneuvering my body to make the fall somewhat graceful, no time to think. My heel got caught in the cuff of the other pant leg and stayed there until I removed it after I bellyflopped onto the floor. I tried to find a video to give you a visual of how I went down, but this is the closest that I could get. The bowler at 0:22 seconds shows the most similar fall. I, however, wasn't walking forward. I was merely turning and attempting to walk forward. Face. Chest. Arms. Legs. All hit the floor at the same time. I hope your laughing. I still am.


Shout out to Sami Jean for taking this picture for me.

Foxie Roxie

Roxie is Joe's new hunting dog. She is an 11-week-old German Wirehair Pointer. She has lasted longer than the 16-hour-dog (see here and here) , so I figured it is safe to put her on the blog. Roxie is pretty brave and charges and plays with My Boy Leroy, and Leroy has decided that he likes her. He takes his toys and literally rubs them in her face in an attempt to get her to chase him.

I got the privilege of naming her, but that's about the extent of my responsibility with this dog-because she's Joe's!

Sami's Supper

Sami's supper tonight consisted of Honey Nut Cheerios and cherry tomatoes. Mmmm. I bought that container of tomatoes today thinking it would last a few days for us to snack on (it had a dome cover on it and it was filled to the top). Sami got her hands on it and polished it off in about one hour...then asked for more Cheerios.

Been A While

Pix from Trollwood Park yesterday. . .

Sirens

Joe and Sami went out to Grandpa Duane's yesterday, so it was just me and Leroy back at the ranch. I don't sleep very well when Joe is away and last night was no exception. The last time that I looked at the clock before falling asleep was 1:30-ish. At 2:06 I was awakened by the screaming sound of the siren, which is only one block away from my house, and the howling of my boy Leroy. What kind of siren, you ask? The kind that goes off when there is a tornado, or bomb, or some other horrible thing. I turned on the television to see what's going on. Nothing. Looked out the window to see what's going on. Nothing. At 2 a.m. SIRENS are going off and NOTHING is going on?! It must be something so horrible that they didn't even have time to type the warning! The siren kept on for what seemed like an eternity, and Leroy and I didn't stop clinging on to each other crying and howling for at least an hour longer. Turns out it was just a malfunction:
***
http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/252169/group/home/

Published September 06 2009
Malfunction causes Fargo tornado sirens to sound off early today
North Fargo residents were awakened by tornado sirens early this morning due to a malfunction in the system.
By: Forum staff reports, INFORUM
North Fargo residents were awakened by tornado sirens early this morning due to a malfunction in the system.
According to the Red River Regional Dispatch, the sirens went off around 2 a.m. in north Fargo.
Usually they automatically shut off after three minutes, a dispatcher said, but one siren was stuck on for 15 minutes before it was turned off.
As a result, dispatchers said they fielded a few calls from alarmed residents, who they assured it was simply an error in the system. The sirens were being repaired today.
***

1,050 miles in 17.5 hours

Forsyth, MT
Saturday, August 29th, 1:00 p.m.

Joe and a buddy did an Iron Butt Association "SaddleSore 1000" ride on Saturday, which means that they rode 1,000 miles in 24 hours or less. Yes, Iron Butt Association is for real and it has nothing to do with prison. They left sometime around 4 a.m. on Saturday heading to Forsyth, MT, which is 500 miles from Fargo.

They left at around 4 a.m. on Saturday to travel 500 miles (8.5 hours) on their beloved motorcycles to dine at the fine restaurant pictured below and then turn around and ride back to Fargo less than an hour (maybe even less than 30 minutes) after arriving at said fine restaurant. I hope the food was good.

For your convenience, below are the links to the IBA (not to be confused with IBS) and City of Forsyth websites so you can read about the SaddleSore, the BunBurner and other certified IBA rides and get to know the city of Forsyth as well.

Iron Butt Association: http://www.ironbutt.com/about/default.cfm

Forsyth, MT: http://www.city-data.com/city/Forsyth-Montana.html I couldn't find a city page for Forsyth, so that's what you get. It probably doesn't even qualify to be called a city. It's a town. Or whatever is smaller than a town. But I think it has the best Dairy Queen around.

So anyway, they made it to Forsyth and back to Fargo in 17.5 hours and they covered 1,050 miles safely and with no breakdowns. None. Woohoo!

On another note, my traveling companions (Sami and my sister, Karina) and myself made it 25 miles (?) in 2 hours on our journey from Albertville to Bloomington on Saturday. More on that later. Maybe.

Dropped off the face of the earth

Funny how after Day 30 I dropped off the face of the blogging earth.

On Saturday I had a fun-filled trip to the Cities, to experience IKEA for the first time, with my sister and Sami...chuckle (I'll tell you about it later if I remember). But, right now Joe wants me to post pictures from his Iron Butt motorcycle trip.

...oh, and I can also tell you about how many different projects I have going on right now, but if you know me at all then you probably have a pretty good idea.

Wow, this post has ADD written all over it - and that's just a smigeon (not sure how to spell that, but it sounds like pigeon, so I'm going with that) of what's going on in my world today.

DIEt

I know this isn't what you want to read on my blog, but I am doing it for myself not for you-so look away because I just may post a PICTURE (I really should, but doubt that I will do that...that's just going too far). It is so embarassing, but my hope is that a few months from now I will be glad I did it. I have been 'ordered' by my doctor to go on a low fat low cholesterol diet. Today is Day 1. I am still trying to convince myself that life is still worth living when the food groups that you survive on don't consist of Sugar, Soda, Carbs and More Sugar. I am a sugar addict. Can't get enough.

My challenge this week is to drink 1.5 gallons of water per day. I've put in a request at work to have my desk relocated to the bathroom.

Sincerely,
Overw8 K8

She was the Sweetest

...and Leroy thought he should try eat her up she was so sweet. Last night when we introduced the two, Leroy was okay with it as long as we played frisbee with him. Today, however, after he had a sleepless night of stressfully licking his paws raw due to the smell of an intruding puppy surrounding him in his own territory, he was definitely NOT okay with the idea of a new 'little sister' and did his best to take her out of the picture.

Sami didn't care much for the puppy from the second Joe got home with it. As a matter of fact, as we were eating breakfast this morning she said in a stern tone "I no like puppies! I like BIG dogs!" Seriously.

So anyway, the Sweetest Puppy has been returned to the breeder so that we don't end up hating Leroy for defending his territory.

Sweetest

She is just the sweetest and now she is ours (Joe's). She wasn't really in the plans, but I guess we can't say she's an 'oops!' either. Name is not yet determined. She is a German Shorthair. Leroy has met her but I don't think he's formed an opinion yet.
Kate

What Happened?

7-22-09

1-31-07

Cake Face

Kate

Thunder Storms

We forgot to open the back garage door for Leroy last night when we left and it stormed. I think he wanted in.