Don't click on these next photos. You'll be sorry if you do because they come up large and will probably make you crave desert. Don't blame me if you lick your monitor. Chocolate covered cheesecake on a stick? mmmm.

I'd kill for some ice cream and one of those caramel things right now. Heck, and I'll take a tiramisu also please.... It's no calorie day.

I've been a bad blogger. We've been busy keeping busy.... company, getting prepared for school and before I knew it, a lot of time has gone by.

The other day we went to a place called Jungle Jim's in Ohio. It was featured on the Food Network and the Travel Channel. It is kitchy and a destination in itself. (The monorail outside hints to its amusement park type theme here.) It's like going to an amusement park for foodies. The place is enormous, like a mall. You are given a map when you walk in the doors. It has everything you can imagine. It has international foods from England, Italy, Greece, Ireland, Mexico...

and it is themed. It has funky displays like a huge singing Campbell's Soup can, a candy area where the candies are displayed in old bumper cars from Coney Island, a real fire truck, boats... everything. I can't even explain it all. It's like Disneyland.

Every section had it's own space. Like if you were looking for a bottle of wine, you'd go into the wine section aisle 2. Not to be mistaken with the soda section aisle 2, etc. This wasn't a place to pick up a few things for dinner, this was event type shopping!

We saw the biggest cheese, 811 pounds of it and about 2 stories high. Even seeing the huge wheels of cheese was pretty impressive. The bakery was to die for. The seafood area had a bunch of tanks full of live fish (they even have an indoor fish farm inside the store.) They also have cooking classes and sell gourmet cooking equipment.

Arizonans missing their hot sauce: There was plenty to choose from. That is probably 1/4 of the aisle, and it wrapped around the whole truck, so there were two sides of just hot sauce.

I loved this. Shum Daddy's BBQ from Kentucky - proud and loud! In the BBQ section of course! ;)

We had so much fun. There were SO many yummy things we could have come home with, and some not so yummy. Including in the meat section: pork brains and turtle meat. Trevor was not too happy about seeing the turtle meat. He's a turtle lover. - Oh, and chocolate covered insects. Eww.

I did come home with some local organic veggies and some Amish breads, along with some other things. We spent so many hours there I can't even remember what we ended up buying. We probably spent an hour alone in the candy section looking at candies from around the world and candy that I haven't seen since I was a kid.

**

Other than that, we have been busy getting school supplies from the teacher's lists, and doing all of the errands required to get the kids ready for school. There seems to be a lot of running around for registering kids from another state. Just a few more weeks until school starts here!

Random observations from today

I was just thinking today of a few things that I just love about Kentucky.

1. Southern hospitality. Even though Northern Kentucky seems to be considered more of Southern Ohio by some, the people here honestly seem so much friendlier. It feels so laid back.

2. People take their chili very seriously. There are 3 big chains here and people pledge allegiance to only one like they would a football team. You don't cheat and go to 'the other guy' when you find the one you like. (I don't like ANY of them...for the record. It isn't AZ chili with beans and spices I'm used to...for sure.) There is Skyline, Gold Star and Dixie.

3. The bag for Steak and Shake says 'takhomasak.' It just makes me laugh. It took me a few tries to figure out what in the world this meant. Now I feel like I'm in on the joke.

4. It's nothing out of the ordinary to see deer (alive or dead) on a freeway off ramp. They're just here doing their 'deery thing.' Coexisting with the human folk. Megan and I were waiting to turn off the freeway one time and there were two lost deer just grazing on the side of the road. I mean, this was an exit that would be compared to getting off of I-10 and Ray Road in Phoenix. Go figure. Did they drive there? In my little Talking Heads voice I sing, "How DID they get here?" We find them fascinating.

*ETA: I'm sure the deer aren't as fascinating to ADOT or whatever the highway dudes are called out here, or any kind of emergency response people since I know that hitting a deer with a car can cause a terrible accident, but I feel we're still tourists enough to stop and stare. I'm sure their cute factor goes way down when you have narrowly missed one with your car.

5. Along the same route, we have a constant game of 'punch roadkill' going in our family. Raccoons, beavers, frogs.....

6. The girl at Wendy's the other day who freaked out that our order came to $6.66 and said before I could even leave the speaker, "OH DEAR, I'm not going to charge you for the frosty because that number just is WRONG."

7. The fact that people buy fireworks and light them just for the fact that it is Friday. There is a show every weekend. It's cool.

8. Fireflies. Is there really anything cuter?

9. People's voracious appetite for sweet tea.

10. Mike's favorite. (tic. It really makes him crazy!) The word please. Please has two meanings here. One being the good manner please for when you are asking for something. The other is when somebody doesn't hear what you said, instead of saying, "Excuse me? or What?" people say, "Please?" I think it's cute.

Prepare for your day to be HIGHLIGHTED!

I say that because Lisa said that if I posted a picture of a card I made last night it would be the highlight of her day. Are you a little underwhelmed now?

How about this one. See how smart my lab is? She is reading that card. (Why does she always need to follow me around and be my helper?!?)



I don't think there is anything blogworthy today. I plan on staying home and cleaning my house. Woohoo! Maybe I'll post some inspiring close up photos of cleaning products later. You never know, because I'm a fly by the seat of my pants kind of girl today.

Oh, and before it gets lost in the comment section in my last post... for those of you wondering where my Halloween ticker is, here ya go:

Halloween - - coming soon.

Tech man is out of town tonight, and trust me after my last fiasco of messing around with my blog, I'm not going to attempt to add anything by myself. I can't be trusted.

Have a great Thursday!

You'll be glad to know that the weather here is less than stellar today. It's hot and muggy. Hey, the bright side is it is supposed to be cooler next week.

But somehow this weather got me to thinking about Halloween....

See, I have this weird way of wishing the summer months away caused by summertime cabin fever in Phoenix. You hope that June keeps you busy enough to not notice that it's hot. Then July...yeah, you try not to think about it some more.

Usually by mid July is when I can't stand ignoring it anymore, which probably coincides with the same time that my kids start to announce that they are bored to death of everything we've tried to do over the summer to keep them occupied.

August is long, and hot... but then I realize there is hope... because the next month is September. I realize that even September can be as hot as August, but there's something in me that refuses to believe it. September just SOUNDS cooler. September gives me hope. Hope that cooler days are on their way and the kids have started school and are usually still excited about it during the first month. Plus September is when the Halloween stuff starts to show itself at Target! (You know how forward I look to that!)

Then you know what comes after that... OCTOBER. Birthdays and Halloween. October is a good month. (hey girls! I have a LAWN here! Doesn't that figure? Haha!)

To throw in some confusion, when we first moved here I was out at the mall with Megan. We passed by a Hallmark store and I noticed a huge display up front that was black and orange! I started to get so excited! Do they really put Halloween stuff out this early here?!? That would have been nice until I got up closer and realized that black and orange is also the color of the Cincinnati Bengals. Oh man... and here I got all excited.

The countdown to fall has begun.

This was a layout I did really quick in between working on smaller albums. Wow, 12x12 looks really big when you've been working on smaller things! But you know I love those big old enlargements! I promise to post some pages out of the smaller albums soon.

The journaling block is straight, but it's bent in the photo since I just leaned this up against the couch. I have to say, this house has incredible light! I need to take advantage of that and get some shots indoors soon.

Not much going on here today. We went to the library and the kids all have a ton of books to keep them busy. Matthew also got a few Thomas DVDs. Apparently it has been awhile since he's watched Thomas religiously because it seemed strange to me to be hearing that clunky music that the show starts with. When I think of the years I have spent listening to and watching Thomas. Trevor won't admit it now, but he was just as fanatic as Matthew has been. That's a lot of years of the same stories! I have to remember that this won't last forever.

breathe out....

This is an oddly familiar sight. I haven't scrapped in MONTHS. Thanks to garage sale preparation, packing, moving, driving, moving in..... this was one of the last things I had time for. Let me tell you, when you think you are burnt out or have no mojo for your favorite hobby anymore I suggest a move. You'll get so tired of the moving that all you can think about is getting back to something you actually DO enjoy.

I finally decided to order some photos and spend some time doing something that is relaxing for me. The past two nights I have stayed up way too late (still 3:00 a.m. - not used to the time difference, or trying to get used to it yet.) My companions are CSI, Hell's Kitchen and Family Guy. Waving to my old scrapping buddies because I really miss you all on nights like this. I can't just call and say, "Hey, do you want to come over?" But you are in my thoughts.

I have filled the album that my friends gave me to do on the road, but I'm still finishing it up. I'm waiting for another photo order. I promise to post it when I'm done. I hand wrote my journaling and slipped it in the pockets along the road, while waiting for kids to fall asleep in hotel rooms. That makes completing it pretty easy! Thanks again you guys!!

I have been working on my blog album the past couple of nights, and a couple of layouts that I've started. All I can say is, remember to take care of yourself once in awhile and do something that you enjoy. It has helped immensely! Laundry can wait, especially in the middle of the night. I have had this on the back burner for far too long and I forgot how much fun it is. :)

So hopefully here is to getting back on track, stabilizing and getting back to a normal groove!

a celebrity sighting!!!

Who can resist stopping for a second when you come across a HERBIE at the Volkswagen dealer! Matthew wanted to pull over and see it so bad. I think he thinks this is THE Herbie, and was kind of sad that it was for sale. The look on his face looks like he is unsure about meeting a 'celebrity.'

Oh I want this car so bad. I could put my little froggies in an aquarium in the front seat (belted in for complete safety) and drive around in my Herbie and be totally happy with everything in the world. :) Maybe hit a drive through for a soda. Yeah.... complete and total happiness.

Oh and see the 'self portrait?' Ha, yep.... it should be mine. There is always Santa right? I've been a good girl this year.

heaven in kentucky

Oh my gosh, today couldn't possibly get any more beautiful. It rained earlier, and there are still clouds everywhere. We may get more sprinkles in a bit. And dare I say that it is in the low 70s and breezy.

The only thing to make it any better was that the horses that are in the pasture at the front of our subdivision were out by the fence today. They are usually off kind of far to where you can see them, but it's rare for them to be standing right by the front. So the only person who wanted to go on a soda run with me was Megan. Yep, another Megan picture post because the boys didn't want to go anywhere and stayed home with daddy.

Megan and I came around the corner to these two:

There are a couple of other horses, one is a huge chestnut thoroughbred, and the other is a pinto yearling, but they couldn't get to close as these two were total pigs for attention.

We had to seize the opportunity to get out and pet them. See mom and dad? All those years of stopping on the side of the road, pointing out horses along the way and it has all come back. What goes around really comes around.

a picture post for the fam

This is going to be a Megan heavy post simply because she is my only one who lets me take pictures of her. The boys just get annoyed with me when I try to get pictures of them. Just wait you guys.... and I don't want to hear ONE WORD of complaints as to why there are more photos or pages of Megan. You had your chance. And no, I'm not going to bribe you all the time.

We went out for a drive again today. There is nothing better (or cheaper) than the days we have spent out exploring and finding the neatest places to stop at. We took a picnic with, so we had nothing but time. Plus, thankfully the weather has still been prime for days outside.

My girl, looking much bigger than I'd like to admit. Holy cow, she'll be 10 in a matter of months.


I got this one from sticking the camera in between my seat and the door of the car. I called her name and this is what I got. I love how quickly she'll smile towards a camera, even if I'm not looking. I love that she was playing with one of her American Girl dolls. It looks like Ruthie was getting a ponytail.

Ruthie and Julie go everywhere with her right now. (Julie must have slipped further down into the backpack, but she's there!) I love that even though Megan is getting bigger, she still has that little girl in her who will carry her doll with her. When she was big enough to hold onto one on her own, she always had a baby doll with her.

I'm going to have to be stealthy and try to get some pictures of the boys soon. Please stand by.

summer blahs.

It's summer. OK, and I can't even say it is the kids. It's me... with summertime blahs.

I don't know if the weather here is typical, but it is nice compared to summertime in Phoenix where everybody starts to suffer from cabin fever from staying inside air conditioned houses for 3 months. Now if the kids are bored they can go outside and play. They've been kept pretty busy with games, computers, playing with each other and new friends, so they really aren't the problem at all.

I don't know if it is just that I've been on auto pilot in move mode for so long now or what. When I wake up in the morning I just stay in bed for about an extra hour dreading to get up. It means another day of putting things away, trying to keep on top of regular life, save money, blah blah blah....

I'm in a funk. Even though it sounds like we've been busy I was watching our little hammies run on the wheel in their cage the other day. What makes them want to get up and do that every single day? They never get anywhere. Sometimes they'll start running faster like if they speed up they might get to where they are going. But they still end up on the bottom of the wheel, rocking back and forth after a good run. Then they jump off and bury themselves in the bedding under their little plastic igloo again.

That's how I fee lately every single day. It's the same routine of work work work and by the end of the day I don't feel like I can see any progress. Maybe it's just hard for me because I look at it all the time. Mike comes home and notices what I've done. To me it's one more box broken down and thrown into the garage waiting for trash day.

Finances are nill. I think that is the hardest part. Like a lot of other people we are really feeling the pinch right now and maybe that is the hardest part. Feeling like you are running, constantly but not seeing much for the work you've done. Moms don't get paychecks.

Maybe it will help when the kids start school in the fall and we are on a schedule again. Don't get me wrong, I'm just in a fog with a lot of worries and things on my mind. On that stupid hamster wheel again....

.....and to top it all off Lisa keeps sending me photos with her iphone of tasty looking plates with oozing cheese from Mexican restaurants that she's been to. And nasty photos of remnants of guacamole in an empty bowl and a table dotted with tiny chip crumbs. She's so mean. Seriously, have you no shame? Get a girl while she's down.

......also, why does this post keep showing up without any breaks between the paragraphs like I typed it? Grrr.

Surprise! American Girl Place.

*********

The first thing Megan said was, "I woke up this morning and had no idea that I'd be going to Chicago today!"

She has had a piggy bank that she has had since she was a baby that she found the other day. For two years she was an only child, so Mike and I would drop change in there pretty often before she had to start sharing with Trevor's piggy bank and then Matthew's. But man, those exclusive two years were good to her. That and she has been pretty good about saving her allowance lately. The girl has been working hard. She does jobs nobody else wants to do, like letting the dogs out in the morning and chasing them as they run down into other people's yards. (Allowing me to stay in bed!)

Things are tight right now, but this is her money. Apparently she broke open the bank and had been counting money since before Mike and I woke up this morning. We were woken up with, "I have enough for the American Girl doll I want!!"

Ugh, I started to break into the speech about how she should save the money, blah blah blah... but honestly, she's earned it.

Mike looked online to see how full the flights were to Chicago today since he had the day off. He was thinking the same thing I was. (Taking her there instead of ordering the doll online. That would be so fun and make a memorable trip. Basically only costing the amount of one cab ride and a cheap hot dog lunch.)

I took them to the airport where we kept saying that Megan was going to flight attendant school for the day. I kept telling her she was going to learn how to hand out peanuts. When she and Mike got out of the car, that's when he told her the big surprise!

Megan and Ruthie enjoying a first class seat on the way back home to Kentucky. (Why is it when I fly for free the only seats available are the middle? Mike and Megan have golden luck since this is her 2nd time in first class. Me = ZERO.) :p

Now, only 10 more days until the Kit Kittredge movie comes out. I bet even Mike knows that now too since I'm sure he had an education in American Girl today! And speaking of, thanks Mike for the photos! I would have been sad without them.

barn of the week:

I AM going to get a good photo of that barn. That is my goal. - It is huge. I mean, that is only the roof. - It's also on a winding two lane road near our subdivision so I couldn't line up to get it at a good angle since I was driving. This was the only way I could get it at a little spot that I could pull over at.

I am fascinated by the barns and farmy stuff around here. It is so beautiful, and you'd think we lived in a very rural area. But we are near shopping and restaurants and everything I'm used to.

I'm sure the area was ALL farms not long ago, because you can see that within the past 5 or so years that some have been sold off and are being developed. I'm sure it is heartbreaking to some of the people who have been here forever, but lucky for me or I wouldn't have a house in the middle of it all.

But OH do I love being able to enjoy it and see it all.

Today we went for a little drive. Mike is in training right now and I needed a caffiene kick start. (Thank you McDonalds for the $1 summertime soda. I buy my sodas with the change I find in the laundry and on the floor. Hey, if it's left there, it's mine right? It's my paycheck for motherhood. And come to think of it I think I deserve a raise!)

Anyway, so we headed out to explore.

There are roads like this everywhere. Long roads with trees overhead, lots of grassy land with some historical markers along the way. Some day I'm going to get out and read the signs about the area. I am honestly looking forward to school starting just so I have some time to myself to go out and look.

Thank you nana and papa!

I almost forgot it was Friday! The kids woke up this morning and were all beside themselves. "IT'S FRIDAY!"

Is Friday supposed to be something important that I forgot? Apparently so. Until I was reminded that today was "cool ice cream truck day!" How could I have forgotten something like that? Geeze mom.

Earlier today we went to Cincinnati to go on an errand. It took about an hour round trip, and when we got back we checked our mailbox. The kids all got a letter from my mom and dad, each with $2 and a little note to buy some kona ice snowcones when the ice cream truck came. What perfect timing!!

They were all so worried that we may have missed him when we were in Ohio. Then about 2 hours after being home (and having the windows open on this perfect weather day! Sorry to rub that in with the Phoenicians.... you are fully allowed to get me back when it starts snowing here in the winter ok?) there was the sound of "Don't Worry Be Happy" the unmistakable song of the cool truck.

Perfect timing!

Matthew got a snow cone too, but was running down the street waving. He says thank you too!

Thank you from all of us and lots of blog love!

A gorgeous day at the park and happy birthday to mike.

This is going to be a photo heavy post. I have to keep the out of state family up to date in photos!

Today was Mike's birthday, and he had the day off. The weather was perfect. I honestly wouldn't have known it was summer since occasionally I had to stand in the sun to warm up. It was in the low 70s, dry and breezy. Perfect.

We went to a state park we kept seeing signs for. Called Big Bone Lick. We always giggled at the name, but after reading a bit about it, it makes sense. Unfortunately whoever was in charge of naming places around here wasn't all that creative. Salt + big excavated bones = Big Bone Lick.

We want to go back to this place often. It is beautiful, and has a lake and campgrounds. I'm not a camper, but if I have to, this is the place. There is a guardhouse, a pool, restrooms, showers and a general store on the property. Plus you pay for a paved space for your car and you get a nicely kept patch of grass and a BBQ. If I'm going to be sleeping outdoors, this is it.

There are historic buildings, playgrounds and a wildlife viewing area with bison. And TONS of walking paths. All of this is nestled in green grassy hills and wooded forest areas. You don't feel like you are on top of other people all the time.

I don't know what these are, but I call them Kentucky weeds. They are everywhere. They are so pretty, and since they aren't cactus I'm fascinated with them.

The timing on this is awesome. Before we moved Megan was watching a show with one of these merry go round things on it. She asked me what it was and I was telling her how our school used to have one, but now they probably aren't considered safe so they've all been taken out.
I told her the point of the whole game was to spin it fast enough to where people fell off, and then the last person on had to stay on until they thought they were going to throw up. Ah, but I'm sure some skulls were cracked over the years and no more of these were to be found.

Until TODAY! It's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt. For the record, Trevor was wanting to be spun faster and notice Mike's legs there to pick him up. It isn't like I'd just photograph the poor kid without helping him out. As bad as this photo looks, he was laughing a second later. No cracked skulls.

Action shot!
wood chips
She says she's had enough for awhile.
But you can always pause to take a picture.

yep, still more

This cool bridge goes over a creek that is between some of the fields and playgrounds, and more of the park. Megan enjoyed tormenting Trevor who didn't like the fact that the bridge swayed when you walked across it. (Actually we are all kind of guilty of tormenting him a little on the bridge!)

more

There is also a gorgeous plantation house on the site, but I only made it as far as the church to get a photo.

These are some tired kids. This was at a very cool little general store and antique store. Matthew is actually crying because when we pulled up to park, there was a friendly dog that was walking up to the car to greet us. We were all making "aww" noises at the dog while Mike was putting the windows up. Not knowing that Matthew had stuck his head out the window to see the dog too since he was sitting in the very back seat. Resulting in the poor guy getting his head closed in the window. He was a trooper though, and tried to sit for a picture he knew I was trying to get of the other two kids.
Trevor the bug hunter. He's fascinated by all of the cool bugs out here. Right now there are ladybugs everywhere.





Matthew and the stinky bison. He said he knew we were on the right path because he could smell them without seeing them.

With a rebel yell....

I think Matthew is channeling his inner Billy Idol here. What do you think?

I also think he is D.O.N.E. with me trying to get a nice picture of him. 5 year old boys have so many other things to be doing than standing still for less than one second.

And off he goes....