Summer lovin'

Don't you just love this face? This is my cousin's little boy, who I think may have a very large chunk of my heart. I also believe that if he told me he wanted me to rob banks and do lots of other illegal things, I might. He's that adorable. Instead, he is the strong, silent type. (Which is one more reason I love him so.)


Gah, I love this. I could just eat him up!

Kelly, Kelly, quite contrary, how does your garden grow.....

......and grow and grow and grow?


Our garden has totally taken over our summer lives. We literally have to pick every.single.day. Jordan went out of town for work at the end of June and it was all I could do not to spray round up on our cucumbers. I will say that MANY have benefited from this garden. More than one family has made their own pickles. CVS customers were even given free veggies one day when no one at work could bear to take home any more.


It has been fun.....and exhausting. I have thought A LOT about how in the world people did this when they had a blue million children at home. There is no way. I would have sold my kids in a yard sale by now if I had them (a yard sale! Who has time for a yard sale when there are pickles to be canned?!?)

I have also learned that if you HAVE to have a clean house all the time, a garden where canning is involved is not for you. My kitchen has been a total disaster zone since the beginning of the cucumbers. I have handled it well, but I have been very thankful that school was over before this began or Jordan might have been on the market for a new wife. :)

I kid, I kid. There is no way he is getting rid of me. That has been the best part of all of this. We have done it all together. Every jar (almost 65) of pickles, every jar of salsa, every frozen pack of squash or zucchini we have done together.


And that, I would never spray round up on :)

My 13 Happy Things

I stole this idea from my friend, Amanda. She has really great blogs that make me feel good. I feel like I get in this rut sometimes where I am a very big Negative Nancy. Amanda's blogs pull me right out of that. Check her out. Not only is she a good blogger, she is also a very talented photographer!


1. My husband's blue eyes
2. My big, fat, very fluffy kitty cat
3. Cookbooks by the dozen
4. Really great fitting jeans
5. My college diploma
6. Socks at bedtime
7. The garden that has produced MANY great veggies already this summer. (more on this later)
8. Netflix
9. Black Grapes (no, not rotting ones, actual black grapes)
10. Sunshine
11. Sonic Sweet Tea
12. My WKU Tervis Cups
13. A really great book


I also did this because I need to see 13 happy things. I have been a little down lately because the job hunt has NOT been successful and the things I want in life seem like the things everyone else is getting. Instead of writing a nasty, unhappy blog (which would make for angry readers who would stop reading my blog) I'm going to try and be positive. I'm going to see that God has a plan for me and it will happen when He wants it too (Thanks GG :) )

Graduation gifts

After thinking long and hard, I have decided what to spend my graduation money on. When you are closing in on 30 years old (uhh, yuck), graduation money has different meanings than it did when you were 18 (or at least it does to me). I couldn't tell you what I did with the riches that I gained in 2000. Sadly, I can guarantee that it ALLLLLLLL was wasted away.

So, here in 2011, I have a different plan. First off, it is a BIG deal that I have hung on to it for this long. I'm not saying I have hung on to all of it, but I have most of it. I wanted to buy something that meant something. Something that I can look back on and remember the day. There have been many times during the past month that I have asked if I needed to spend the money on bills. My husband (who I know this has been very hard for) has always replied no. He has given me suggestions on how to spend it (XXL T.V. for the bonus room that we hardly ever use....which I was also informed we don't use it because there is no XXL T.V.) He has been very nice about this money, except when he tells me that I am going to loose the check because I loose everything (yeah, so I'm a little unorganized...who isn't.....).

So, I decided with some of it I am going to buy myself a piece of jewelry. From Tiffany and Co. This way, I have a sweet reminder of my big day and something I've always wanted to say I have. A piece of Jewelry from Tiffany.

With the rest........
Well......
I'm looking into a Roomba.
Wow, graduation money really is different when you're almost 30.

Jordan and his tractor

While riding on the fender of Jordan's tractor a few days ago, as he dug post holes for his barn, I realized how long it had been since we had been in this "situation". Back when we were in high school, Jordan had such a love for tractors and farm equipment that it wasn't at all odd for us to end a date in Bowling Green by going to the John Deere place (Hartland equipment? Maybe?) and "admiring" the new ones they had. They also had the habit of leaving them unlocked (can you lock a tractor??). We would climb up into these unbelievably expensive pieces of equipment and talk about having a new one ourselves one day. Some talk about children, we talked about tractors.

Life was so simple and Jordan was so easy to love.

Then life changed for Jordan and for us. Our tractor dreams were no longer something that we talked about or dreamed about. Jordan put all his attention into engineering school and I put all my attention into....well.....we won't go there right now.......

A few weeks ago, we drove by there and told friends we were with about going there when we were "kids". They found it so funny (is it weird that I never found it weird?). As I watched him on his dad's old tractor today and as I rode along with him for a few minutes, I thought to myself, what will we ever do with this tractor if we ever move? I know that selling it will NEVER be an option. I wouldn't even want to sell it. It's a piece of Jordan's childhood that I know (because I've asked) that he would ride on everyday for the rest of his life if he could farm again. Even if the seat is terribly uncomfortable and there isn't an air conditioned cabin. (yep, air conditioning on a tractor is possible).

celebrate good times, come on!

After graduation on Saturday, we loaded up and went to the beach. What a great way to celebrate. Ang and Dylan went with us, so it made the trip that much more special. We had awesome weather, great food, and a lot of laughs. I think I could have stayed a month....as long as I could have come home and got my kitty and took him back with me. (Just imagine, that sand would have been like litter box heaven to him!)

Anyways, while I was there, I got the call that I officially have a job! It's only a summer position, but it's with the CDC (Center for Disease Control). In the public health world, this is HUGE! It's almost impossible to get them to even talk to you, much less offer you any kind of position. I was just in the right place at the right time (and I had a professor who was actually praying daily for me to get this job! How great is that!?!). I would love for it to turn into something more, and it is possible that it could, but just in case it doesn't, I am of course holding onto my CVS job for a little longer.

I am very excited to see where this job takes me. If nothing else, it is going to look FABULOUS on a resume.

Yay for beach vacations and those pesky phone calls you get while you are there that just happen to be REALLY AWESOME news!

I DID IT!!!

Well, thank the good Lord, I finally DID IT! I graduated on Saturday the 14th with a B.S. in Public Health (with a concentration in public health education, but who cares).

I DID IT! I finally have this college degree that I have been working towards for (now this is where it gets embarrassing....) 11 years. Almost 11 years to the day! I have to try and make myself feel better by saying that I didn't go for 11 years straight. There were several years in there where I didn't go at all.

Ahh, who cares how long it took, I finally made it!

Thanks to those who supported me and loved me through this whole thing. Without that, I never would have made it. I barely made it out with my mind, but I did, even though there were times it was a little iffy.

WOOO HOOO!! WKU Alumni!!!!
Wonder how long it will be before I get something in the mail asking for alumni donations?? I give it a week.

P.S.--In Kelly-like fashion, you had to know that the day didn't go off exactly like it should. I mean, there is no way that would happen for me.
1. I split RED fingernail polish on my dress right before leaving. I said screw it, I'm wearing it anyways. I think that it will make for a great laugh.....eventually......

2. I got in my car, thinking I had plenty of gas to make it to BG. Ummm, when I was getting off the interstate, crying, I prayed more than one pray to just get to the first gas station. (my car said "Zero miles until empty". Nice.

3. Got parked (finally), ran down the stairs of the parking garage, looked to make sure I had everything (which I did--shocker), get to the bottom and......wait for it....have no tassel. That's right. It was GONE. Thank goodness they gave me another one (after giving me a really hard time and I finally yelled that I would pay for it if they would just hand it over.)

Again, thank the good Lord that this is all over......until graduate school.......