Relief!

My friends.....please clap for me.  I will wait.   Ok, thank you.  I FINISHED MY PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATION!!  For a lazy sucker like me, this is very good news! This certification says "good job Kristel, even though you got your teaching certificate and you have been teaching for 4 years, we don't know if you are really qualified to teach so can we please have $625 and we will let you write a long paper."   I won't be too honest about how I made the whole thing up in case a random big-wig decides to read this and send me to jail.  At least I would get free healthcare and get schooling paid for there.  (I will save that rant for another day).  Anywhoo, I am done, done, done with school work for at least 6 months!

 I would like to share some wonderful things that my brain is full of lately. 

*Getting some dreads :)

*Homemade bread

*A plentiful vegetable garden (my seeds are actually coming up!)

* Really learning to sew and actually doing it.
*Crocheting (I gave up on knitting after a drunk lady showed up at my knitting class)
*Having more compassion and being nice
       (conversation while watching some judge show)
      Kristel:  Aaron, do you think I would be a good judge?
      Aaron:  NO
      Kristel:  What??  Why not?
     Aaron:  Because you have no compassion AT ALL.
      Kristel:  Whatever, you're stupid :)

May you not choke on almond skins and may you know if your milk is spoiled before you pour it on your cereal.  Peace
  

Makes my heart melt

If this doesn't make you want to go and reproduce....there is no hope :)

The Truth Shall Set You Free

Sometimes I feel that I am really weird.....like, really, really weird.   Not "oh look, that girl is a freak," but more of a "what I do in my spare time weird."   Do you ever do things or think things and wonder "am I the only one who is like this?"  Well I am here to share some of my thoughts and doings.  If you find any of the below items gross or odd, please still love me ok?

*I do not like to shower.  I often don't shower.
*I practice singing the National Anthem quite frequently while driving.
*During church I often get the thought "what will they do if I started running around naked?"  And then I smile.
*A couple weeks ago I had the urge to lick the guys hand who had it draped over the pew in front of me. 
*I burp and fluff more than a man.
*I sometimes flip people off under the table during work meetings if they are making me mad.  Mature, I know.
*I become racist at the drop of a hat (only when I visit the outlet malls.)
*I don't know how they ever let me be in charge of a classroom and children's education.
*I tell myself stories.  Outloud sometimes.
*I believe spell check and proof reading is a waste of my time.

Still love me?  Do you have any wierd thoughts/actions?  Come one, let it off your chest!

Baby Steps

You know how much I love baby steps?  Not at all!  I am an all or nothing kind of gal but I am a work in progress.  I came across this today and well, I like it.  Baby steps baby, baby steps.  Go forth and conquer.  Or eat some ice cream while watching Bachelor.  Whatever mows your lawn.

Saving cash-ola

During Christmas break I was wondering around Target (that's what I do for excitement) and saw a lady flipping through her huge binder full of coupons.  So I knew this was my chance to find out all about the coupon rage.  She explained to me a lot.  A little too much, as I was bored halfway through our conversation, but I will leave my easily irritated personality disorder for another post (or therapy session).  This is what I took from our coversation: 

Get a couple Sunday papers, clip pretty much every coupon
Organize them
Go to different manufacturer's websites and print their coupons
Look at different couponing blogs...they have already listed what hot items to get
Go and conquer

So I tried it.  I checked out this website and ended up getting a few things for pretty cheap.  What I don't like is that it does not work too well with my attempts at eating fresh and local foods.  Sure, I can get a box of cocoa puffs for .75 but that is what I want to fuel my body with.  I will stick with the couponing for toiletries (I got free floss!!) but that's about it at this point.   

What do you do to save money on your grocery bills? 

Laundry Soap

I have this crazy awesome hippie friend who I got the idea to use this stuff from.

I was going to make my own laundry soap because Lucy was getting a little rash on her belly but me being my lazy self, decided to try this stuff instead.  Rash gone.  Love it!  It comes in a 3 pack, enough for 240 loads, and costs $40.  I actually follow the directions and use 1 scoop per load and so far so good.  It doesn't leave the clothes smelling like lemons or lavendar or anything but they smell like clean water.  What do you mean you don't know what clean water smells like?  Well, try it and you will know! 

Oh Boy!

Hmmmmm.......is she flipping me the bird??

She Has My Heart

I love this girl more than words can say. 
She makes my heart happy.
She makes me want to be a better person.
She has caused me to have more compassion and more love.
I hope she knows how loved she is.

1 Year

Dear Abby,

It has been 1 year since you were taken away from me.  1 year since I have been able to talk to you.  1 year without my best friend.  I miss you.  Terribly.  I still don't think of you being gone as a reality.  Sometimes I pretend you decided to become a missionary and you are in the deep jungles of Africa telling people about Jesus.  But then I laugh and know that you couldn't eat their food, it took you years to not order a cheeseburger at a mexican restaurant :)  So much has happened Abby, and sometimes it hurts so much that you weren't here to see it.  You would absolutely love Lucy and she would love you.  You would have made the best godmother.  I read her the book you got her and I tell her about you.  I even sing to her the wrong lyrics to songs in memory of you.  We even sing Whitney Houston together and I am pretty sure she loves it.  What is the hardest is knowing that I will never again have a best friend like you, never have someone to share my deepest and most shallow thought with.  I get angry sometimes, angry at God, angry at others.  I know I shouldn't but I wish it was someone else that feels my pain.  I am thankful that I had 18 years with you as my friend and 10 of those as my bestie.  You were closer than most of my family, than any friend.  I thank you for loving me despite all my downfalls, my temper, my stubborness, my impulsiveness and my stinky feet.  I only hope that everyone gets to experience that one friendship that cannot be broken, that cannot be changed and cannot be duplicated.  My heart is broken today and the tears keep flowing but I know that healing will come but there will always be a part of my heart that went with you that tragic day.  I love you to the moon.

Love always,
Krissy