Internet Tips and Tricks

Thanks to the World Wide Web, we have a ton of information at our fingertips!

For example, did you know there is a proper order to put your make up on?

Thanks to Lenacy you now have it all in one handy dandy diagram.

Want to know how I put on make up? Slather on foundation, curl lashes, line and color lids, smear on blush.  Put up make up bag.  Get make up bag back out cause you forgot mascara.  If I have time, I might paint on some eyebrows to even mine up.  That’s a mighty big “IF”.

Thanks to Fit Body HQ, you can now have the Ultimate Butt.

I’ll tell you honestly that I don’t have a clue what a glute bride/hip thrust is.  I thought that was a dance move I learned in middle school, and normally a grunt was part of the move.  And whatever Bulgarian Split Squats are – they sound painful.

Oh how I wish!  I’d love to do a cute cheese tray like Real Simple suggests; however, is it wrong to tell you that it would be lost on my friends?  No offense friends – but you gotta admit, you’d look at that and go “Kate has too much time on her hands!”  You guys love the jalepeno/grape/cheese cube that Amy puts together for the parties (which I showed her, by the way!) and really, no matter how good the Mountain Gorgonzola is, it can’t compete.  (P.S. when you see Gorgonzola dressing on a menu – it’s just blue cheese dressing.) (You’re welcome.)

Thanks to Better Homes and Gardens, we learn that the proper way to serve buffalo wing bits is with an expensive lollipop stick… Apparently the $2 for 1000 box of toothpicks I have just isn’t cutting it.

Penney at My Journey to Live and Authentic Life, and my Pinterest buddy, you haven’t seen my garage…

Oh, Martha Stewart, you have so much more time than I do!

Yes, we have a world of information, tid bits, tips and guides at our fingertips.

And 90% of them are useless.

Having said that, I will be making dinner tonight based on a recipe I found on the internet, so, sometimes that 10% that’s left over does come in handy!

Blessing Bags and Coffee

Let me start by updating you on my 40 Random Acts of Kindness before my 40th BD!  I’m just so super excited about this.  I love helping others, but what has really made this worth while is showing Mr. T that you can change the world, one small act at a time.  As I’ve mentioned before, several of the items are low or no cost, because I wanted to drive home the point to everyone that you don’t have to have a lot of money to make a big different in someone else’s life! You can see the full list here.

Today we dropped off a case of water at the local fire station.  This is the Fire Department that responded when mom and dad’s house caught fire when I was 7 mo pregnant and was storing all of my stuff at their place. So, they have a special place in my heart.  We ended up just leaving the case of water at the front door, as I couldn’t get in and didn’t want to go wandering through the fire house! But, Mr. T enjoyed it – he felt good leaving them a surprise!

If you took time to read the list, you’ll see that I crossed out “make a care package and drop it off at a homeless shelter” and made a note that I changed this to Blessing Bags.  If you don’t know about Blessing Bags, they are pretty awesome!  The goal is to make a little bags to keep in your car to hand out when you see a homeless person, sometimes I’m just not comfortable handing out money, so this is a great alternative.  These bags are all over Pinterest if you are interested, (and you can follow me by clicking on the link to the right!)

I read through some of the ideas and then headed out.  I did my grocery shopping with my handy dandy calculator on my phone and discovered that I was going to come out $30 under budget… so it was time to start! I bought what I could at the grocery story and then headed to the Dollar Store to fill in the gaps!

I grabbed brown paper bags and a case of water.  Then I grabbed:

• Kleenex,
• moist wipes,
• lip balm,
• snack crackers,
• granola bars,
• toothbrushes and paste,
• combs and
• band-aids.

I put out a call on Facebook that I was putting these together and taking donations of supplies and my mom responded almost immediately.  I picked up a big bag of sample size shampoo’s and lotion’s (Read: gathered up from all of the hotels she and dad has stayed at!) and I get to add those to the bags as well!  I’ll get the first 20 bags put together and these will go with Mr. T and his youth group at church the next time they go downtown to distribute food to the homeless.  I’m pretty excited.  Due to my mom’s donation, for about $2 each, these bags should be full of items to help someone out.  There is food and water to feed their insides.  There will be lip balm and wipes to take care of their outsides.  I have found a bible verse to put on a gift tag to help feed their soul.  I think that covers the basics.  And, hopefully, they will be appreciated and something that will last longer than cans of food.

Anyway, I’m pretty darn excited about it! I’ll keep a couple in my car to hand out, too.

Lastly, let me address the coffee part, since it is part of the title of the blog!

My Keurig broke several days ago.  I spent time trouble shooting it on Google, I called and spent 30 minutes on the phone with Keurig customer support and they finally let me know that it was not fixable.  Ugh.  They did offer me a “discount” on a new unit.

Well, after a little more time on Google and varies on-line retail shops, I discovered that their “discount” could easily be beat!  And, not only could their discount be beat, but I could get a different color…

Hello lovely!  Let me tell you – this beautiful purple joy was worth suffering through 3 days of decaf coffee!

Sunshine Award

Thanks to Container Chronicles for giving me the Sunshine Award, which is an award given to bloggers who have been inspirational.

The rules are simple:

1. Nominate 10 other bloggers.
2. Give 11 facts about yourself.

Now for the hard part – coming up with 11 things to share with you!

1. Yesterday I got a text from Mr. T.

Wanna have lunch with me today?! I am in the mood for Taco Casa… I would love if you could bring me some.

How does a mom say no to that? 🙂 I love, love, love the fact that my teenager still enjoys spending time with his mom.  I love the fact that he enjoys when my hair is purple and isn’t embarrassed by it, and yes, I know that he really wanted Taco Casa (a really good fast food Mexican restaurant for those of you not lucky enough to have one!) but the fact that I got to come along with it was Awesome!

2. My friend Erica and I text pictures of our food to each other.  While it’s not normally a competition (usually it’s more of a validation “Look! I cooked!”), yesterday it turned into one.  She sent me a great shot of her lunch:

And in return, I sent back this, with the caption “I win”.

Her husband is contesting my “win” currently, but really, I don’t care how bad my bean burritos were compared to her bruschetta chicken, cause my teenage son invited me to sit with him at the table with four of his friends!

3. Here is the tweet that Mr. T sent out after I left.  (Mom, just skip this next part, it was funny in context, I swear it was!)

Yes, my son’s Twitter handle is currently Master Sex Appeal.  Yes, he is making a duck face in the photo.  Yes, he’s wearing makeup.  But, we were practicing our Halloween make up that night, and then because it was so funny, we were making duck faces and taking selfies.

4. I cannot make a duck face.  I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong, but apparently the duck face selfie is not for me.  I heard all of you sighing in relief!  You thought I was going to subject you to a duck face selfie, didn’t you?

5.  When my son goes out of town, I tend to live on PB&J and cereal.  My friends tend to call and make sure I’ve had the PB&J and make sure I’m not just living on cereal.

6. My dad instilled in me a love of Science Fiction and I like to indulge as often as I can.

7. You all know that when Dean Winchester comes to life he will be mine.  Mine I tell you! MINE!

8.  I found out today that one of my best friends and I have been friends for 29 years.  That makes me sound older than I really am!

9.  I have multiple ghost/haunted house related activities on my Bucket List.  I’m actually pretty sad that my house isn’t haunted.

10.  MeatLoaf is one of my favorite artists.  Seeing him in concert was a magical experience!

11.  I have a Lion King tattoo.  Sort of.  I have an infinity symbol with Hakuna Matata woven in, and I worked hard for that!  Hakuna Matata is Swahili and it really does mean “no worries”.

And now, 10 bloggers that have inspired me, both in the blogosphere and in real life:

1. Surviving the Madhouse
2. Winding Road
3. Little Steps
4. Orts of Sorts
5. Soul Healing Art
6. Mummy Flying Solo
7. My Journey to Live an Authentic Life
8. Kids “R” Simple
9. Me, Myself and Kids
10. Graced by Emilie

Please take a moment to visit those I’ve listed above and show some love!  Tell them Kate sent you! 🙂

And, now, in honor of Hakuna Matata, here are some bloopers from the movie:

Picnic in the Forest

In addition to Mr. T taking sophomore English in his high school class, he is also taking the first half of junior English on-line via a large university.  I’m really impressed with his drive for his education, and I’ve said extra prayers for him with everything on his plate, but sometimes, even the extra work is fun.

Tonight he came in and asked if I would help him write a poem for his on-line class – and he did such a good job, I have to share!

***********************************

I crawled all day through thick brush and thorny vines

To see her eyes that are so divine

I evaded predators big and small

Fast and short, round and tall

With me I carried my parcel and a sack

Full of dishes and utensils and a tasty snack

After a long days journey to see my sweet

I pulled out a blanket and set up a feast

Once the dishes were placed and the last candle was lit

I crossed my six legs as I prepared to sit

Then I looked up, saw her crawling towards me

And I had to shout “Oh, no! Lookout! The branch is falling from the tree!”

Crisis averted she gave me a hug

My one and only, my little lady bug.

Sometimes it’s the little things that make the days brighter.  After he finished his assignment, he came back to the living room and we talked.  Not about anything special, the book I’m currently reading, his extra-curricular activities and such, but it is so nice that even after all this time, and through the teenage years, my son still wants my help and likes to sit and talk to me.  🙂

 

Ding! Ding! Ding! And the Winner is:

Bronchitis!

Friday afternoon I got in to see the doctor.  I knew something was wrong with my chest – besides the fact that it kept making me pee! After several rounds of questions and some pokes and prods, she pronounced my diagnosis as bronchitis.  She said I would get a steroid shot, some antibiotics, cough syrup and prescription cough pearls.  Oh, and an inhaler.  Okay.  Sure.

First off, I’ve never had bronchitis, but I can deal with that.  I’ve also never had a steroid shot, but how bad can it be?

The nurse comes in, has me shift my pants to expose my hip, grabs a wad of fat and goes “Okay, here comes a little pinch.”

I so got this!

“Now here comes the medicine, it might sting a little”

Okay, yeah, there is a small sting – but I’m one tough cookie!

A band-aid, quick adjustment of my pants and I was out of there.  It wasn’t until I was following the nurse out of the exam room that it hit me!  As I told my Facebook friends “I grabbed my butt and gave the nurse a dirty look!”  Now it stung! All of the sudden, I wasn’t such a big girl anymore!

I ran to Wal-Mart to pick up my meds and do the grocery shopping and about half way through it hit me.  I have a lingering cough and Mr. T has a lingering cough… I was just diagnosed with bronchitis… hummm.  I whipped out my phone and placed a call to Mr. T’s doctor.  No, they won’t just call in a script (I knew they wouldn’t, but I had to give it a shot.) but they could fit us in Saturday morning at 9:30 am.

I finished shopping, made it home and unloaded the groceries.  I was utterly exhausted.  I checked work emails and sent up a prayer of thanks that the sub sandwich in the deli had called my name and that I didn’t have to fix dinner!

Mr. T and I made it to his doctor appointment this morning.  Guess what? He has bronchitis, too.

I know, you didn’t see that coming, did you?

Back to Wal-Mart to get his meds.  And some ingredients for a soup that just sounded great.  Then over to mom and dad’s to help them load up Lee’s old TV that weighs 200 pounds. That might be an exaggeration, but not by much!  Mom said that she’d make my soup for me and dad could bring it over later.  Sign me up!  Yes please! Thank you mom and dad!

Home to eat lunch, take a nap and then dad brought over the soup and some yummy cheesy garlic bread for dinner.  It was so nice not to have to worry about cooking dinner and just be able to rest!  The coughing part is horrible, but the fatigue that is attached to this illness might actually be the death of me!

So, we are taking our meds and tomorrow is a new day! Plus, after church we’ve decided that it won’t wear us out too much to go see The Hobbit! We’ve been trying to see it since opening weekend, but time has been working against us!  Not tomorrow!  We’ll order some lunch and let them bring it to us while we sit back for 3 hours and just enjoy!

I No Longer Have Control

of my bladder.  TMI?  Yeah, I know.  But at least you aren’t living it! And if you are, please let me know so that we can be miserable together!

As you probably know, I’ve been sick.  Mom said tonight she thinks it might have been the flu.  I refuse to believe that, and I do sound so much better, but I still have a horrible cough.  I mean horrible.  It’s loud and it’s gross.  I laugh and I cough.  I breathe in too fast and I cough.  I think too hard and I cough.

The cough has taught me something, though.  I learned the other day just how fast my legs can clamp together!  I’ll be walking through the house and all of the sudden I feel a cough coming on and my knees slam shut.  I’m sitting in my chair working and feel a cough come on and I clinch. I’ve gotten to the point that I try and cough when I have a bathroom break – cause hey – already there!

I’ve tried this:

And, I live on these:

And thank you Wikihow for providing examples of how to use those products!

I’ve also been slathering my feet in:

 and putting on my socks and crawling into bed.  Let me tell you that I hate sleeping in socks.  Oh the sacrifices we make.

And, let me tell you about flavored cough syrup:

However, I think I have found the cure to all of my problems.  Not just my cough, but any problem I might have, or will ever have.

Alcohol.  Cannabis.  Chloroform.  Morphia, Sulph.

Sigh me up.  I bet I won’t care when I pee my pants after taking one dose of that cough syrup.

Day 5 of Quarantine

Monday

Day 1

Work is slow.  Time to run errands.  Get all the stuff we need to make it through the rest of the week and pick up the food to take to the NYE party.  Get my last Starbucks of the year.  Oh, what a moment!

A few hours later:

I’m dying.  Dad says that I’m not really dying.  He did take pity on me and bring me meds and orange juice.  I told him “I didn’t hear my garage door open” as he walks in the house.  His response was “That’s because it was open, and so was your trunk.  Do you want these groceries inside?”

Yes, I had unloaded most of the groceries; however, I didn’t get them all and left the trunk and garage door open… for 7 hours.

Day 2

It’s NYE.  It’s a work holiday and of course, I’m sick.  Can’t even blow a sick day and take the day off work.  Mr. T, upon finding out that we aren’t going to our annual party asked if he could go with his youth group.  Fine, whatever.  $20? Really? The fever must have gotten to my brain.  So, off we went to the bank.

Now I am burrowed on the couch under a couple of blankets.  I’m taking half a dozen different kinds of meds to combat the symptoms.  After a certain point it’s just like mixing a cocktail and I’m combining everything on the counter just for some relief.

It’s 9:00 pm and Mr. T is gone and I’m home alone.  On New Year’s Eve.

I’m going to bed.

Day 3

Happy Freakin’ New Year to me.  Cough, Cough, Cough.  Oh look – there’s a lung.  It might have come out of me.  I was a good parent though and got the ham going in a crock pot, sat the black eyed peas aside and decided to get out the other crock pot for a cherry cobbler.  I made a cup of hot apple cider and mixed together my morning cocktail of meds.

Mr. T eventually got up after his night out bringing in the new year.  “Uh mom, I don’t feel good”

Well of course you don’t! Please, come have a mixture of medicine. Great, now I can’t be sick because my son is and I have to take care of him.  Bleh.

Yes, I know, not the loving mother response.  Bite me.

I fed us.  We dined liked kings.  Except we barely ate.  It’s hard to eat when you can’t breathe.  A few hours later I realized that we don’t have enough meds to last with both of us sick.  Apparently it’s bad luck to go shopping on New Year’s day.  Whatever.  At this point Mr. T has on thermal underwear under his shorts and t-shirt and has stolen my blankets.  So, I peal off my pajamas and put on real clothes, run a brush through my hair and head off to get us some soup and more medicine.

Our house is officially under quarantine.

Day 4

Mr. T now has laryngitis.  But, we both made our cocktails of medicine.  My boss called me today  – as it’s a work day and while I don’t feel well, I’m not wasting a sick day! I said “hello” in as normal a voice as possible and he freaked! “What happened? What’s wrong? Are you okay?”  I wished I had a great story to tell him instead of just the “I’m sick” response I had to give.

Made T and I a bowl of fruit for breakfast.  We’ve snacked on and off most of the day.  His voice did eventually come back.  I think he was really disappointed when it did.

I grabbed the can of Lysol and walked through the house and sprayed every surface I could find.  There was a fine mist hanging in the air for hours.  It was kinda pretty.  Or I took too many meds.

Day 5

It’s Friday.  I better be better by this evening.  I don’t want my weekend ruined! I hear a sneeze from Mr. T’s room.  His throat still hurts and he has so much drainage I can hear him breathing from across the house.  It’s really gross.  He’s gotten up and showered every day (which is our rule), but put on the same germ riddled clothing.  I told him today to put on fresh clothes.  I really, really hope that he’s been putting on fresh underwear after each shower.  I hadn’t considered that until now.  I really, really don’t want to consider that.

Great, now that’s all I’m thinking about.

I’d kill for a Starbucks right about now.

2014 Resolutions That I Actually Can Keep

I’m sick.

No, not in the head.  Okay, I am that, too, but I’m physically sick.  I think I’m getting better, but since Monday afternoon I’ve shuffled from the couch to the kitchen for meds and then to bed.  All of this down time has given me plenty of time to reflect on the past year (which I didn’t really do) and to think about the new year (which I actually did do!)

Without further ado, I bring you my 2014 Resolutions!

I resolve to:

• Constantly work on improving myself
• Continue working on not comparing myself to others
• Not kill anyone.  Unless it is with kindness.  And if that really works, then my life just got so much better!

• Eat more chocolate

• Check Facebook, Pinterest and Word Press at least once a day
• Have a pajama day
• Pick up the phone and call my friends and not just text them funny pictures I find

• Cross multiple items off my bucket list
• Watch the movie The Bucket List
• Read lots of good books.

So, there you have it! My resolutions for the new year.  Did any of you make resolutions? Do you plan to keep them? 🙂