Are ya KIDDING me???????

This morning, I was reading the paper and read a lawsuit is being filed against a non-profit org near where I used to live in Independence.

Lawsuit filed over Little House museum in Kansas


By ROXANA HEGEMAN
The Associated Press

"WICHITA | A California production firm has filed a lawsuit against a museum on the southeast Kansas homestead where writer Laura Ingalls Wilder once lived, saying it owns the rights to the name "Little House on the Prairie."

Friendly Family Productions, the maker of the television series based on the best-selling book, filed a lawsuit last week in federal court in Los Angeles against Little House on the Prairie Inc., a nonprofit group that runs a small museum on a farm outside Independence. The suit claims trademark infringement, unfair competition and trademark dilution."


UNFAIR COMPETITION????????? ARE YOU FREKIN' KIDDING ME?????????? This place is in the middle of nowhere, Kansas. Not even CLOSE to California. Gawsh...c'mon guys!

Oh, but they *did* throw the little organization a bone, the article said: "Schodorf said Friendly Family Productions offered the Kansas museum $40,000 for its trademarks and to change the name of its Web site and online store, Schodorf said."

What a JOKE.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE. And feel free to leave a comment HERE.

It's unfortunate how litigious our society has become ... that a giant in California would sue over a historic site's name. COME ON PEOPLE! Find better things to do with your lives!!!!!!

Oh, to check out the site in Southeast Kansas where the family lived, CLICK HERE.

Helping hands???

Ok ... so we'll be doing some MAJOR painting around Erik's house in the near future. I have big plans for our master suite the week of Thanksgiving (Mon-Weds). SO if you'll be around and want to help me paint ... the more the merrier!!!!!!!!

If bribery works, I'll cook for you!!!!!!!!

Old friends...

so ... I generally have a moral dilema when I'm a wedding guest. To take my camera or not. But IN MY DEFENSE I have ONLY a professional grade camera. I NEED a purse camera I can take to events like this!


(from left: Billy, Cindy, Joyce, me, Rob and Sara).


(Me and the girls - Cindy and Joyce).

Anyhow, my desire to have some snaps led me to take a few personal images at Joyce and Billy's wedding last month. So here goes ...


Isn't this tent SO TOTALLY AWESOME????


And there were totally cute wildflowers for table centerpieces — SO Joyce!


This is the rainbow from the ground ...


Check out Dr. B walking Joyce to the ceremony!


And Joyce's cousin, who was handing out massages...


And when I was leaving to go to the hotel ... I went into the house to use the restroom ... and their cat, Homer, was totally chillin' on top of gifts. :-) HA! That TOTALLY cracked me up! He was just chillin' like a villian. He was pretty calm ... I can't imagine how high strung Esse would be with all of the people in an out!

My life will never be the same again!

I was making applesaue yesterday .... and was trying out new kitchen gadgets. I was using a new peeler, then decided to give my new gadget a whirl.


This peeler slips over the middle finger ... and it makes peeling apples a DREAM!!!!!!!! I suspect this will change the way I feel about peeling potatoes.

These little jewels are available at target. Check it out by CLICKING HERE.

Confession ...

Mike lauded me for not photographing on our wedding day (except for a few self portraits).

Weeeeeeeeeeell, I *did* take a few detail photos ... just for kicks. BUT I will say Mike and Heather had waaaaaaaay better light for their detial pix, so I'll let you know when they're all up!









ps-the dress was brand spankin' new ... it wasn't a vintage dress, but doesn't it LOOK vintage????

Gifts!

Shortly after the wedding, we attacked the monster pile of gifts!


They're all open ... now we have to find homes for all of our awesome gifts. Today, I hung a new shower curtain ... I've NEVER had a matching shower curtain and bath mat before! (yes, I'm a dork!)

The BEST part about the gifts is that ALL of the thank you cards are written!!!!!!!

Need a nice cat?

My friend and business partner, Mike, has been trying to find a home for a cat for awhile ... if you are willing to give a loving home to a 10-year-old cat named Pumpkin, cruise on over to Mike and Angie's blog....

And I know some of you are thinking "why don't you just take the cat, Karen? Well, if you've ever met Esse, you would understand her jealousy and disdain for any other 4-legged creature. She lived with another cat for almost a year and a half and they STILL got into cat fights and hissing matches ... so we can't bring poor Pumpkin into our home. :-(

Crossover — Classic!

Mike's been AWESOME about posting sneak peeks on the Heartland blog of our wedding.

For all of the posts about Erik and I, CLICK HERE. (And DO be sure to leave blog love!)

Erik was telling me as we tooled around in the car how he remembered riding in the back seat as a boy. Interestingly enough, our wedding was his first big driving experience in the car. He "learned the ropes" from papa Vern Friday, then Vern turned us loose. Thanks for loaning us the car, Vern! It's such an awesome visual element and has some very personal meaning to your awesome "sonny boy!" ;-)~

The yin and yang of Erik and Karen

I LOVE that Erik and I are opposite in many ways. The opposites make us a killer team.

Latest case in point: thank you cards.


I don't so much mind writing them ... but I loathe addressing more than 5 at a time.

Erik, on the other hand, would rather address cards than write thank yous .... so our system works out quite nicely. :-)

Of course, after writing dozens of cards, I am getting a little creative. Saying things such as: "Thanks for the gift card to Lowes. Erik and I are excited to get a storm door, but we're hoping Vern will come install it." ;-) (don't worry Bonar parents, we're having the Lowes boys come and do all of the hard work. We'll sit, drink Arnie Palmers and watch).

My creative writing has been momentarily halted because we've run out of cards. Perhaps I'll get some more soon. And stamps. Sheesh! I know what the next wedding gift I'm giving is — thank you cards + stamps! Seriously, it's the most practical gift EVER!

Bye bye empty walls!

It's SO exciting to get our OWN art on the walls of Erik's ... er ... our house!


I ordered a nice 24x30 image of our e-session, as well as some detail shots of the pressroom to go along with it. Evidently, I didn't mention to Erik I got other photos, too. Oh well, he *gets* my vision and we both think it turned out AMAZINGLY!

I even cleaned the junk off the dining room table for the photo! If you're in the neighborhood, DO drop by! I am excited to show off our awesome walls!

Next up: painting. Erik and I have FINALLY agreed on a wall color for the master bedroom. YAY! But I think before it gets painted, the guest room is up. I need to get a sample to be 100% sure I like it. Hopefully, I'll get around to painting the guest room by the end of the month ... then the master bedroom by Thanksgiving! THEN I get to attack the master closet!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, I'm SO jazzed to install a closet shelving system — one for E and one for K! Also, some extra shelf space and of course some drawers and MORE drawers!

A *few* people have asked if there's anything we still need ... and our answer is TARGET GIFT CARDS!!!!!!!!! We're getting ready to install our dream closet and any/all help is appreciated! Of course, once it's in, we'll never want to move (you'll see once you see the finished product!).