Monday, February 28, 2011

Happy Birthday Sister!

Me, My Grandma, My Mom, My Sister
and My Daughter.
It's Monday Morning and the coffee is brewing......

Today (or rather tomorrow) is my Sister's Birthday.  She is a leap year baby so on the "off years" the family has differing opinions as to what day is her actual birthday.  She always votes for today and I always say that she was born the day after the 28th so her birthday should be tomorrow no matter what the actual date is.  Regardless of the actual day, she will always be my baby sister and I love her! 

My sister and I live in different states so we don't get to see each other that often, but we are still near at heart!  I am excited that she will be up for a visit at the end of this month and the timing couldn't be better as it coincides with my youngest daughter's first ballet dance recital. 

So here's to you baby sis, Happy Birthday!  I hope you have a special day!
Love from your big sis, KL
xoxoxox
Photobucket
 
Want to read more articles similar to this one?
Take a look at our Archives/Index page!

Friday, February 25, 2011

The Things I Love and Love to Do

I am a blogger at heart, but I have run into a problem.....writer's block, or since I don't really consider myself to be a writer in my case it is Blogger's Block! However, there is one subject that I can always find time to blog about and that is the things I am love and am passionate about.  I hope you enjoy today's "Pictorial Blog".


My hubby and girls
My Son and his Fiancee
The Furry Family: Bella & Jasper
Anticipation.......watching them wait for the fireworks!
Buying our first house....
Celebrating Summer with our neighbors
Dancing with the Hubby

Loving the fact that my Hubby bought this for our house!
Reading - just about anything

Doing my volunteer work for our Rescue Organization

Watching my kids get along!

Easter Egg Hunt, Pacific Northwest Style

Running my home business with The Gourmet Cupboard!

Today's Blog Hops:








A Mommy's Sweet Blog Design Friday Blog Hop
BoostMyBlogFriday











Photobucket

Crazy About My Baybah


Photobucket
 
Want to read more articles similar to this one?
Take a look at our Archives/Index page!

I will follow you back, please be sure to leave your blog link in your comment so I can easily find you.  I have a busy day today, so please be patient ~ I will follow you back before the weekend is over!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

My Goofy Cat Jasper

I just found the greatest toy on earth for my cat!  
The bonus ~ it was on clearance for only $6.00.
I just added a little catnip and I think I might have just saved my couches! 


Photobucket
 
Want to read more articles similar to this one?
Take a look at our Archives/Index page!

Monday, February 21, 2011

When I Was Growing Up.....

I had someone send me a joke the other day ~ one of those funny ones about what it was like when we were young versus how it is today.  It really made me sit back and think how different my childhood was from what my kids have today.  I grew up and went to grade school in the 70's and 80's, so those of you who are my age know what I am talking about.  I do wonder how much our technological advances are actually hurting our kids, both socially and physically, not to mention emotionally.

Following is the joke that started this whole contemplation.  I can't give anyone credit for writing it as I don't know who the original author is and I did clean up a little bit of the more colorful language.

If you are 36, or older, you might think this is hilarious! When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning.... Uphill... Barefoot... BOTH ways...yadda, yadda, yadda. I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it! But now that I'm over the ripe old age of forty , I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a Utopia! And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!
  1. I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!
  2. There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!
  3. Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our butts! Nowhere was safe!
  4. There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!
  5. Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and mess it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car (if you were lucky). We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?
  6. We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!
  7. There weren't any cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a damn call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". OH MY GOSH !!! Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please!
  8. And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!
  9. We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen.. Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!
  10. You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your rear and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?!
  11. There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons!
  12. And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that!
  13. And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you were doing chores!
  14. And car seats - oh, please! Mom put you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were lucky, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place. 
There are a couple of more things that I would like to add to the list above:
  1. We didn't have any malls or shopping centers when I grew up, if we went shopping we were going "downtown", which involved parking the car and walking from store to store.  
  2. We lived in a neighborhood that was conducive to kids playing outside, almost every home had a swing set, all parents knew each other and when a Mom wanted you to come home she opened up the door and hollered your name until you came home.  Mom's voices could carry across at least 4 houses and sometimes more.  
  3. A grocery store was a grocery store, period.  We didn't have super shopping centers like WalMart or Fred Meyers, there was no such thing as one stop shopping.  You went to the grocery store to get groceries, the hardware store to get hardware, the drug store to get drugs (prescriptions, shampoos, and things like that). 
  4. Most moms knew how to sew and it was actually more cost effective to make clothes instead of buying them (today the reverse is true).
  5. The Wish Book.....this was either a Montgomery Ward or Sears Catalog.  New catalogs came out twice a year, one in the Spring/Summer and one in the Fall/Winter and a special one just for Christmas.  Most kids Christmas lists were based upon finds in these catalogs.  If your parents had a charge card it was probably for one of these stores.  To order out of the catalog you either mailed in your order form or you placed a phone call.  If you were lucky enough to have a pick up center close by, then you drove to the pick up center to get your order once it came in.
  6. Most neighborhoods had a local corner store, usually ran by a family.  We had a charge account at our local corner store and it was a big deal when you finally got old enough to walk (about a block) to the store, with a list from your Mom and have the store put it on your charge account.  
  7. Most corner stores had a penny candy section and you could pick up a few pieces of candy for a penny each. 
  8. We also had a neighborhood park with a duck pond and all!  Walking or riding your bike to the park carrying bread for the ducks along with warm pop to drink and sandwiches to eat was a rite of passage.  I think that the rule was that the oldest kid in the group had to be 11 or something like that.  We spent many fun hours playing at that park.
  9. How about these games, how many kids know them today?  Red Rover, Fly Catchers Up, Dodge Ball, Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, Square Ball, Tether Ball or Forts.
As a society and as parents we are concerned about our children today. We hear reports about how kids are more overweight than they have ever been, more children get ADHD and Autism and our kids are having to grow up faster than they ever have before.  All I have to do is look at the list above and it is pretty obvious that our kid's are not living healthy childhoods.  Activity is something that is scheduled, i.e. soccer, dance, baseball, etc.  Maybe I do have to turn into my Mom and tell the kids that if they don't go outside and play they will be doing chores, seems like either way I win......I will either get a clean house or healthier kids.

Given my kids aversion to anything that is work related, I bet I can guess what my kids will choose, how about yours?  Just some food for thought....

Photobucket
  Hops that I am participating in today:
Sippy Cups and Cloth Bums
 

Want to read more articles similar to this one?
Take a look at our Archives/Index page!

Friday, February 18, 2011

KLs Cupboard Featured Blog for 2/18/11

It took a while to find, but KLs Cupboard is pleased to announce our Featured Blog: A Bowl Full of Lemons.

This site is jammed packed with organizing photos, cleaning tips and tricks and it is well laid out and easy to read!

Click on The Button to Go to
A Bowl Full of Lemons Blog!




Photobucket
 
Want to read more articles similar to this one?
Take a look at our Archives/Index page!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Post Valentine's Day Ramblings

Our Family Valentine's Day Table
Yesterday we celebrated Valentine's Day like we usually do "Family Style". What exactly does that mean? For us it means that our youngest spent the night before filling out her Valentine's Day cards for her school Valentine exchange and party. It was a somewhat long process as it involved determining who was going to receive what Valentine. She only had four styles to choose from, but since she's only 7 the process did involve considerable thought.

My husband had taken a personal day off from work so that we could accomplish several run of the mill things (doctor appointment, car oil change, visiting Grandma in a nursing home, etc.).  I was looking forward to a day spent together doing nothing fancy ~ just being together sans kids.  A little wrench was thrown into the plans when our oldest came down with a virus, but no problem we just ferried her off to Grandma's house as it was one of the "non stomach" viruses.

Our table centerpiece ~ mini roses
that we now get to plant in our
flower bed to commemorate our day.

Our Valentine's Day culmination always ends with a special family dinner....the table is decorated, little gifts are exchanged and we try to keep the table-scape and food theme either Red or Pink.  This year's food was spaghetti and meatballs so we went with a Red theme.

My hubby and I had a wonderful day, his grandma was happy to see us and loved the little Valentine's cards the kids had made (she enjoyed the cookies too).  I am not sure how much of our visit she will remember as she suffers from mild dementia, but we did put the cards on her bulletin board.  Prior to visiting Grandma we went shopping to the Dollar Tree (love that store), so we had fun picking up bargains for a buck.

Homemade Valentine's Card - Love,
Love, Love this!
I was in charge of dinner and decorating this year (my husband & I switch off each year).  I set up the goody bags and decorated the table while cooking.  Our dinner included spaghetti and meatballs, steamed broccoli and cauliflower, garlic bread, and carbonated fruit punch to drink.  Everyone loved it and we had a great time talking and sharing.

Of course it seems like it is Murphy's law that there always seems to be a flip side to everything, at first I thought that our flip side was that our oldest daughter was sick, but alas that was not it ~ it was the curse of the Valentine's Day nay-sayers.  You know who I am talking about, the people who have determined that Valentine's Day is too commercial so they don't celebrate it, or those who say that they don't have to celebrate it because everyday is Valentines Day for them, etc., etc.

It kind of left me with a bad taste in my mouth (like a sour burp) and it almost seemed like a put down to the rest of us who do celebrate Valentine's Day.  I have to admit that I did get a little offended hearing this, because after all many of those same people are Christians who still celebrate Christmas (although it is highly commercialized & they are already Christian throughout the year) or they are the same people who eat all year, but still celebrate Thanksgiving, or a Mom who celebrates Mother's Day or Easter or St. Patrick's Day, or hey don't forget about Independence Day.....

After much contemplation I realized that I had to put it all behind me and realized that these people probably were not trying to put down the rest of us who celebrate this holiday, but rather they were just trying to find an excuse that seemed reasonable as to why they did not.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day

KL's Cupboard would like to wish each and every one of you a Happy & Special Valentine's Day.  Today is a day to celebrate Love, whether it is with your Sweetheart, Kids, Parents, Grandparents, Friends or even give your self a little extra love ~ you're special and deserve it.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

What is a Blog Hop? And it's Weekend Hop Time....

It's weekend blog hop time.....

I like to join blog hops as it is a great way to meet new friends and discover new blogs to follow. There are many "Hops" out there to choose from, but the ones that seem to work the best for me are the ones that don't list a bunch of rules that need to be followed. I am fairly new to blogging so it did take me a while to figure out how the whole "Blog Hop" experience works.

This is my take on the blog hop experience.
  1. Each blog hop has a starting point somewhere with the original "host". The host is the one who has the "linky" (the list of all participating bloggers). Sometimes there is more than one host.
  2. The graphic button for the hop should link or take you back to the host when you click on it.
  3. For most blog hops you will need to have either a blog post url or your blog url to add to the linky code.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Facebook Friday Hop

Another facebook hop, the only requirement is to follow the first one listed on the "linky". Click on the button to go to the hopping host and add your link!

Photobucket
 
Want to read more articles similar to this one?
Take a look at our Archives/Index page!

Thursday's Train to Facebook!

Click to join in!  Increase your facebook fan page.  KLs Cupboard is currently a featured sponsor in a give away, check it out.  See you there!
Photobucket
 
Want to read more articles similar to this one?
Take a look at our Archives/Index page!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

It's a Dog's Life ~ Wordless Wednesday

Bella  ~ We love her to pieces, but she does live with little girls, so......
Normal Bella


Princess Bella

Ski Bunny Bella

Easter Bella

Just another stuffed animal Bella

Muscle Shirt Bella

Rooster Bella


Photobucket
 
Want to read more articles similar to this one?
Take a look at our Archives/Index page!