Foooootball

*stretch*

Yesterday, I hit the turf for a state football game. Gosh, it's been years since I shot high school football, but after the first half, I sort of got my knack back .... because of exclusivity stuff, I can't post photos for a few weeks. But in the meantime, you can CLICK HEREto check out the story/photo the Star posted online.

And CLICK HERE to see the photo gallery.

My new favorite thing!

My friend suggested I make some puff pastry twists .... and so I finally gave it a try. When I was looking at the back of the box, there were directions about how to make spinach pinwheels.


Ohhhhh yuuuuuummie!!!!

I adjusted the recipe a bit, and opted to use fresh spinach. :)

Ingredients:
1 sheet of puff pastry (you'll find this in the freezer section, next to the frozen pies)
1 egg
1 T. of water
1/3 c. parmesean cheese
1/3 c. fresh spinach, cut up
1/4 c. green onions ... snipped
garlic salt

Defrost your pastry, roll it out.

In a bowl, mix the egg and water. Then brush it onto the pastry.

Mix cheese, onions and spinach, spread onto the pastry.

Sprinkle LIGHTLY with the garlic salt.

Roll the pastry into a log, cut into about 1/2 inch slices and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake in the oven at 400 for about 15 minutes.

Um...yeah, now I think I need to go upstairs and have another one. :)

Preparing for Advent ....

Some days, my prayer life is rockin' and at other times it needs much improvement. Last night, I thought I might get back into my rosary-saying habits as Advent nears.


So, last night, I was praying the Joyful Mysteries in preparation for Advent. Anyone else love Fr. Peyton's Rosary Book? Mine's hidden away somewhere, but I like applying the principles to my rosary time.


My chain of thought started with Mary doing something she probably didn't want to do. I'm pretty sure she didn't plan to be a mother. Didn't plan to marry Joseph ... just go down the list. But she DID those things. And she probably did them joyfully. With cheer. Hmmmmm....I don't always react that way when I'm doing something I don't want to do.

THEN I got to thinking, 'How did she know she was supposed to do all these things?' ... and it came to me: "She was steeped in prayer."

We are preparing for Advent, and it's a good time to be steeped in prayer. I have to admit, that's one area of my life that's been slacking/lacking lately, and a new liturgical season is always a good excuse to start over.

So, friends, I'm asking YOU .... how do you "steep yourself in prayer" for Advent .... I'm looking for some good and practical suggestions here .... leave a comment!!!!!!

Beans coming out of my EARS!!!!!

Yesterday, I wanted to make White Chicken Chili, but a portrait session bumped all of my time back, and it didn't happen. That was OK, though, because when I went to the store to get the beans, I realized I could get the dry variety and soak them over night (cheaper thataway).


Well, I soaked the amount the recipe said .... and you more seasoned cooks can just guess what happened. The recipe called for 3 cans of 15 oz beans. Well, they're already bigger and expanded. The 35 oz of beans I soaked became ENORMOUS. So much, in fact, that I couldn't put all of the beans into the crock pot to cook them.


Rats.

So, I figured what the heck. Might as well make some Ham and Bean Soup, too. Right? So I've got that going on the stove with the chili in the crock pot. Sheesh! We're going to be freezing A LOT of soup in the next day or so.


SPEAKING of freezing soup .... a month or so ago, I read an awesome way to do it in Better Homes & Gardens Magazine. Let it cool off some. Then pour it into those BIG freezer bags. Close the bag, get rid of the extra air. Then, put it into the freezer ON A COOKIE SHEET. That way it will freeze flat. The cool benefit to this is it freezes flat, taking up less freezer space. Cool, eh?

And for those of you who want links to the recipes: Ham and Bean Soup and White Chicken Chili.

Oh, on the Ham and Bean soup, I steam a head of cauliflower, then puree it and add it to the soup to make it nice and THICK! :)

Cooperstorm V

Well, it's fall, which means it's time for Cooperstorm!!!!

This year, Coop asked us to host this year. And since I LOVE having people over, it was perfectly fine with me!

We certainly sat around and chewed the fat for awhile ...


... and then we of course showed photos. :)

If Jess (in CA) is reading this, Chris has asked about a west coast version ..... let us know when you guys want to host! ;)

Master Bedroom — Before & After

Here's the transformation:

BEFORE:


AFTER:


Now, I know the duvet cover doesn't look uuuh-maaazing with the room color. It will change, fear not! Here's what I have in mind:


And picture white nighstands on either side of the bed, too. Aaaaand, some wonderful white crown molding!

The other accent color I envision in the room to be bright yellow ... such as this:


This is the other side of the bedspread ... but I'm not as crazy about it as the white. Oh well. Options, options!


There are more photos to come, but this is the nuts & bolts of it.

And a panorama of the room:




Always nice to get the room cleared out .... because then I tell myself the junk doesn't need to work its way back into the room. Ya know?


Another view:

Gordon Parks

Last week, I wrote about reading Gordon Parks' memoir: "A Hungry Heart."

Well, I just finished, as evidenced by the tear streaks on my face. No, it's not particularly a sad book. It's just so beautifully crafted. Seriously. (He writes "After ninety two years I still don't know who I am" ..... GENIUS and SO honest! AMEN Gordon!). Parks is a master of photos, film, music and words.

I first was introduced to Parks (quite literally) the day I graduated from high school. I was at an exhibit of his work at WSU. He was there to meet and greet and sign autographs. The line was long, and I left, disappointed. In the parking lot, I basically talked myself into getting in line. "When are you EVER going to have a chance like this again, Karen?" I said to myself. The line was crazy-long, but I met him, and skidded into high school graduation just in time.

Then while living in Southeast Kansas, I went to his boyhood town of Ft. Scott. I'd read some of Parks' love poetry from the library and disliked it, but the poems on the walls of Mercy Health Center moved me nearly to tears. For example:

THE FUNERAL by Gordon Parks

After many snows I was home again.
Time had whittled down to mere hills the great mountains
of my childhood.
Raging rivers I once swam trickled now like gentle streams
and the wide road curving on to China or Kansas City
or perhaps Calcutta
had withered to a crooked path of dust
ending abruptly at the county burial ground.
Only the giant that was my father remained the same.
A hundred strong men strained beneath his coffin
when they bore him to his grave.

--It's online HERE

I'm so ashamed it took me 2+ months to pick up this book (I checked it out from the library about 3 months ago). And now? I don't want to take it back!!!!! You can just BET this is on my wish list of books to own!

So ..... you photographers/photojournalists out there: YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK!!!!! And for those of you who like a guy who goes against insurmountable odds ... you also must read this book!

Painting!

A few weeks ago, my friend Andrea said she is willing to come and help me paint the master bedroom. It's difficult to turn down help, especially someone who is willing to come to MY place and WORK for me.


So I told her to come on over!!!


Andrea hard at work!

Photos of the room to come tomorrow!!!!!

Painting process ...

I know you are just beside yourself, wondering what pearl of wisdom I'm going to impart on you today .... and are you ready for it?

Wait.

Wait.

Wait for it .....


A queen-sized bed comfortably fits into our closet.

Yeah, we're not really the bed-making type of people, but you get the idea.

This was part of our process for painting the master bedroom. Photos of the painting to follow .... I PROMISE!!!!!!! I'm sorting through them and will get them posted up here shortly. :)

We have a winner!!!!!

Ok, so for those of you who don't know, my family has a competition every year (for the last 12 years running) to see who can guess when the first snow will fall at my parents' house in Wichita. I'll go into details later if anyone is interested.

Suffice to say, there is a winner: Mom.


Congrats, Mom! While I'm sad to not win this year, I *have* had my name on the traveling trophy 2 times before ... and poor mom? NONE. Nope. In 12 years, everyone in our family has won at least once (well, except for my brother-in-law). Some of us have even won twice. But mom? Nope. Nada. Zilch.

Well, the streak ends. Good for her!


I'm a little bitter, but when I was in college, my awesome roomie, Jeanel, suggested we start a side pot with money. Well, the money pool is optional and while I didn't win my name on the traveling trophy, I DID win the money this year .... so losing is less bitter with President Jackson in my pocket.

But the quest continues for me .... I want to be the first person with a new last name on the trophy .... so if you have any inkling of when the first winter snow for 2010 will be, DO let me know!

Erik is sad the trophy will leave our house, but he's comforted to know it will still be in the state .... and not in the netherworld of Oklahoma (I feel so DIRTY just typing that here). ;)~ Robin, Erik remembers your ability to keep track of the noses and he doesn't trust the trophy in your hands!

Yummie Goodness!!!!

I know! I know! I owe you photos of our room. They're coming (eventually). ;)

Miss Andrea, who helped us paint, brought a yummie snack: True North Almond Triple Berry Crisps.


YUMMIE!!!!!! Erik and I have never had them before, but let me tell you .... I ate about 800 of those things on Thursday. They are SO tasty! AND crisp/crunchy. Seriously heavenly!

And a little doo from the course

While we were at the golf course, we saw this:


Nice, eh? Evidently they were aerating the grass, but it looked like piles of dog doo.


And SOOOOOOOOMEONE was uber mature and ended up throwing dirt clods at me ... any guesses on who that was?


Ok, one last doo-looking photo.

Those you love ...

So, a month or so ago, I realized I spend lots of time photographing people doing what they love, but I don't have many photos of those I love doing what they love (ok, so I have plenty of photos of our cat napping....).

Erik and I headed out to the 9-hole golf course south of town for an afternoon.


Erik workin' it ....




I can't decide which of these photos I like better. The above or the below.




I even hit a ball .... maybe 50-75 feet-ish? Not terribly bad. Not terribly good.


Liking both of these, too. ;)


Digging this detail of the bag.


Aaaaand .... here's the one reason I'm not 100% golf is a sport. You can drink WHILE playing it .... not just while being a spectator.


EDITOR'S NOTE: VICTORY! Our bedroom is painted (THANK YOU ANDREA, for helping to paint!). And I DO have photos, but don't have them all edited .... so you'll have to wait a day or two folks.

"A Hungry Heart"

Wow.

So I'm sitting in the Denver airport waiting for a training for a group I volunteer with. But that's neither here nor there.

A month or more ago, I checked out Gordon Parks' memoir, "A Hungry Heart" from the library.


I'm embarrassed to admit I had the book for probably 2 months and hadn't cracked the cover. I extended the matearial from the library ... twice ... and now I'm FINALLY reading it. I read it during the entire flight here, and it's UUUUUUMAAAAAAZING! I'm only about 70 pages in and I've been teary about a half a dozen times. Parks is such a craftsman of words. I remember reading his love poetry and not being enamoroed. But on a trip to Fort Scott, I read his poems about the Kansas landscape .... and they're breathtaking!

As I said, I'm only a short distance into it, but Parks' drive to follow what he is passionate about is just so moving! (Dad, you NEED to read this book!).

For more information about the book, please CLICK HERE!

Blue ....

Our master bedroom is up on the slate to be painted next!!!!!

Initially, the upper left two swatches and had settled on the far upper left color.

But I wanted to go with black and white on the bedspread and curtains ...


I'm sure Erik is sick of staring at these ....


The two upper right swatches were joined by the left two swatches ... but I just was not 100% convinced ... but once I added the 3 bottom colors, the option was CLEAR! And Erik and I both agree!!!!

Which is it??? Tune back in two weeks to see! :)

Fall cleaning ...

I was prepping the rain barrels for winter (so the water doesn't freeze and bust up my lovely barrels!).

I tossed off the screen tops .....


And then .... what (more accurately WHO) do you see below?


Not sure if she thought it was a good hiding place .... but it was pretty amusing.


Silly kitty!

Esse ...

We had some overnight guests crash at our pad, and of course, Esse's favorite part is having the guest bedroom open.

I couldn't find the kitty the next morning, and there she was ....


I've never seen her there before, but I guess that means she approves of the new pillows.

Oh, did I mention getting the new pillows? So, we had a bunch of out of town guests and needed to have some decent pillows. Well, I was at Target, but .... how do I test them? By lying down on the floor and testing each and every one of them on the floor in the aisle of Target. Oh what a sight .... if anyone was watching, I'm sure they think I'm cooky. ;)

Halloween

Friday night, my mom called to see what I was up to on Halloween.

One of Erik's co-workers lives on a popular trick-or-treating street ... we showed up with our bags of candy and watched the frivoloty.


Dad, of course, brought festive hats. :)

Anywhere from 1,800 to 2,000 kids came by to collect candy. It was .... Norman Rockwell-ish to watch. Had a small-town feel, but ... not .... all at the same time. Hard to describe.


Isn't he a cutie?!?!?!?? :)


And this? Well, guess what he is?

A pothead.

Gotta love those literal costumes. ;)


Closing with another window decor shot.