Prepping for Camp

We are sending B off to sleep away camp soon. This means I am spending a ton of time labeling all of her clothes and things she is taking with her.

Today I am giving a mini hair bootcamp to teach her a few simple dos she can do at camp.

Pics to come :)

Hairdos I Did :)

One of my passions of late has been learning new hairdos to do. If only B would let me practice on her more often....

Below are a few dos she was willing to sit through.

First is the Lady Gaga hair bow. I used B's real life hair to make this bow. No extensions or other forms of fake hair were harmed in the making of this do.



Next up is the Spiral Braid. A lady followed B around the store for a while before she finally asked her ..."Who does your hair?" B just kind of looked at her for a second and said "Umm, my Mom." (We wondered if she thought Miss B had a stylist or something...strange.)



One more for now. This is the inside-out bun. I had sooooooo freaking much fun doing this one but it took me about 45 minutes to do it. So what do you think was it worth the time she had to sit or not?




Let me know what you think. I need a little feed back here to help me figure what I want to do with this blog.

I'm A Loser Baby.....

Yeah, I know I am like the BIGGEST putz in 36 states....at least. I keep promising y'all some serious posting but Fail on the follow through. This time there are no promises just a fun little posting. Maybe I will keep it up....Maybe I won't. You will have to come back to make sure I stay on my game.

So I guess a little update is in order. Well here goes....

Most importantly does everyone know the Packers won the Superbowl????!!!!!

If not, that's okay. I will remind you. I have to remind myself every once in a while, just for fun. In case you didn't know, the Kally Family are Packer fans.
This started with Miss B who decided at age 7 football stats were much more important than secrets to write about in her little pink diary. We all have our special gear we wear for game days. My fave is 52 - Clay Matthews.

I have decided for game day swag I need a life-sized Cardboard Clay. If anyone can help me out on this I will be your friend for LIFE. - I can imagine some great pics around town with Cardboard Clay... next to the Golden Driller maybe...


or the Rose Garden...

In T-Town the possibilities are endless!

Oops! Sorry about the misdirection. I get a little super hyper focused when it comes to football.
•Real quick, other things I am into right now:
•Hanging out with the our besties aka the best-Es.
•Settlers of Catan or on fun nights Settlers of Cantina
•Doing hair!!! Bug me about it enough and I will post some pics of some cool hairdos to do.
I will even give a quick review of last year if you really want to know some of the crazies I went through.

I will leave you tonight with some pics of the way the Mr and his buds are chill-axing this evening.




Yeah, I know. Cigars. Don't worry the Mr knows a shower is a must. Can't muss up my clean sheet smell :)

Welcome Back From the Cold

Today was my first day of re-entrance to the land of the living. Yeah, that cold really took me down for the count. So what does one do while feeling like poo? I don't know about you but for me there was:

1 - Down 1 bottle of green Nyquil - (not all at once) That NASTEEEE Gak will kill almost anything.
2 - Go through 2 boxes of kleenex with aloe. - I have blown my nose so many times the skin around my nostrils is all gross, dried & flaky. (Real lovely.)
3 - Get 3 FULL days of rest. I slept most of Saturday, Sunday & Monday. (I kind of felt like Rip Van Winkle when I got to work this morning and realized so much had happened while I was sleeping.)
4 & 5 - Drink 4 - maybe 5 hot toddies. Enough said right?

And while one is sick, one must give up their beloved Bravo-lebrities for ridiculous amounts of online television. Let's say something like 2 entire seasons of Gossip Girl could be just what the doctor ordered. I swear, at the end of season 2, when Chuck told Blair he loved her, I felt 5 degrees of better. Don't judge me. ...I know you have your weakness as well - you can spill your guilty pleasures in my comments. I can't wait to hear what chases your colds & flu away.

Love to all.

Dear Anonymous,

Your comments are driving me crazy! I have yet to figure out if you are a RL person or just a bot BUT either way this must stop NOW. Everyone expects the random "Special Medicine for Men" comments or even a rude remark every blue moon but these nonsensical comments are maddening. Please start your own blog and leave mine alone ...because this blog is mine and for my still faithful readers/friends who check in on me.
- Kally

***For those who are wondering, yes I am still here and well. Many things have been going on. The worst was the unfortunate loss of my camera :( - I don't know what happened to the thing I have either
(a) lost it in my tiny apartment
or
(b) left it at the coffee shop we frequent after the farmers market
or
(c) left it at the Indian restaurant I love.

I have been reluctant to blog without the eye candy to go with my words. Sorry, I know, I suck.

Tonight I am sick with some yucky cold the Mr passed on to me. I am in bed nursing the most wonderful hot toddy. -Made by me! If it kills this cold I will gladly pass on the recipe to all in need. - Strike nursing, I just downed the rest....I think I just might need another. If it doesn't kill the cold at least it will make for an interesting evening. Groundhog Day on the squawk box, a hot toddy in hand, words for my bloggy friends & texting a friend who is also sick....what else does a girl need?
....Oh yeah, her health. Lets hope we are all feeling better soon.


Love to all!

Working My Way Back to You Babe

I have missed blogging so much. I am so sorry for abandoning all of you for those snippy (BUT freaking hilarious) Atlanta housewives & then for those plastic (BUT so out of this world train wreck funny) OC ladies... Oh yeah & the biggest most addictive of all time-sucks...Sorority Life. (I know it is a facebook app & I should know better but I couldn't help it. I am trying to wean myself off of it slowly.) Please don't forgive me yet though. Let me get a few posts under my belt again before you consider that. In the meantime please excuse the mess as I clean house on this blog. I have old things to clean up & new stuff to display. Go ahead and leave a comment or two and let me know you are still there :)

My Little....Gangster?

In case you were wondering Miss B has decided to donate her hair to Beautiful Lengths. We are thinking about getting her hair cut the first weekend of December. In the meantime she will be looking for a fab new style to sport.

I know this is super late to update you on but here is what B was for Halloween….

Did you guess Gangster? Well, that was what the costume packaging said BUT everyone that saw her thought she was something else. When someone would ask her what she was going to be she would say in her fast little voice… “I am supposed to be a gangster but what I really look like is a Pimp!!!!” When asked if she knew what a pimp was she would respond, “Nope, but I know I look like one!

***This wonderful pic was taken by my photog friend. Many Thanks to Kitmac Photography for giving me permission to post this awesome pic!!!***

Hebrew School

Have you ever seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding? You know how they send the kids to Greek School and they learn Greek? Well, B is old enough now that she is in Hebrew School. Same kind of thing except B is learning Hebrew and preparing for her Bat Mitzvah. We usually carpool with another family that lives a couple miles away from us. Well, one evening when they dropped B off it was the older sister who was driving. She told me that B was trying to con her into letting her sit shotgun. The Older Sis told me this was how the conversation went….

B: I can ride in the front.

Big Sis: B I don’t think so. You need to sit in the back with the other kids.

B: Really! I can sit up front. My Grandpa always lets me sit up front.

Big Sis: Well, your Grandpa has many more years experience driving than I do B.

B: Well, you have two hands to drive with and my Grandpa only has one!

*** I totally lost it at this point. Cracking up laughing because it is the truth. ***
****Although Big Sis had to give B that one, Miss B still rode in the back with the other kids. ****

Just Wondering

I have a bottle of the OPI Matte color Alpine Snow. It just isn't me so if you are a OPI polish fan and think you will use it I will give/send it to you.

No drawings this time. Just show me some bloggy love <3 (that is my ghetto fab sign for a heart)

This is what it looks like

Rapunzel, Rapunzel....

I know it has been forever. I have no excuse once again BUT I do have things to say....

Soooooo, Miss B has been wearing her hair long for most of her life. At present time, it is about half-way down her rear. Now hear this: My sweet girl has decided to chop it all off (over 14 inches of hair) and donate it. She is still trying to decide where to donate the hair to. We have looked into Children With Hairloss & Pantene Beautiful Lengths. B has asked me to ask around to find out where others have donated hair and their experience with the organization they donated to. Any comments/suggestions would be helpful and greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!!!

Drinks, Food, Place-Check! People & Time.......ummm

It is only Monday and I am already wishing for the weekend.
Why? you ask.
Well, It must be all the frozen, mixed drinks I have waiting for a Girls Night...OF COURSE!!!!
I have had some rockin' times with my fam & all of our friendlies BUT I am ready to boot the Mr & the Monkey (B) out the door and invite the girls in for chick flicks, snacky things & frou frou drinks. In PDX we had a blast watching movies the Mr would describe as "drinking tea & talking about feelings flicks" with a plate of cookies and whatever drink you want in hand. I soooooo need to have one of these nights here and SOON.

I have the apartment cleaned, the fridge stocked with food & bevs. I am ready :)
........Now all I have to do is round up the local girls and decide on a time.

Let Me Tell You Everything

I feel terrible for skipping out on you guys for so long but I have no excuse other than life got in the way and I only had time to live it. No time for reflections. I will try to make it up to y'all by telling you everything....well everything that I can think of that has happened lately.

Last you heard we had just gotten back to T-town and we were trying to get settled back in.

Things are going well and busy.

Work: I am working full-time as an Administrative Assistant & the Mr has a part-time job @ one of the local colleges until he can land a full time gig. We are hopeful he will get something soon.....so keep your fingers crossed for us.

School: Miss B is attending her first year in a public school.....and she LOVES it. She has made friends fast and likes every single one of her teachers. (Thank goodness this transition went smoothly!)

Friends & Fun: We have spent a ton of time with the E Family : eating amazing dinners cooked by the fabulous Mr. E; watching oldie but goodie & some not so goodie movies; and the whole time laughing & loving spending this time with our Besties.

Miscellaneous:

• Sunday School has started back up. I am not teaching this year due to grade mixing in the re-org but I am supposed to sub when needed. Miss B is glad to be among friends but I fear she may be socializing more than learning. (The girl loves to gab! ....wonder where she gets that from? :)

• I have been fighting a losing battle with the oven in my apartment. The janky old thing burns things on the bottom rack and WAY under cooks on the top rack....there is no happy medium. Maybe I should just try cooking everything on top but longer....hmmmmm....there's a thought. (See I am so glad to be talking to y'all because until this moment I have pretty much been burning everything :D

Okay, so I am getting tired and starting to ramble. I will get back with you on more Kally Casa goings-on soon. ...For Real :)

Guess What Hit the Fan????

I am blogging from the nearby coffee shop because Cox has yet to come give me real Internetz in the new apartment. So here is a quick laugh from last night....

....I was cooking dinner while the Mr was folding the laundry when all of a sudden I hear this THUMP quickly followed by some choice words. I asked him if he stubbed his toe/ran into the wall???? He looked sheepishly at me and told me while trying to fold MY special lady & the tramp sheet (yeah, I know...kid-ish...I refuse to get rid of it) ...okay so he was forced to fold the sheet lengthwise and as he stretched upward to fold the sheet, the ceiling fan (which was set to the highest speed) whacked him right in the hand.

*I almost peed mah pants. I was laughing so hard at his gracefulness.

**Before we went to sleep, he turned the fan to a lower speed.

***He is still showing me his wounded hand...all I can see is a tiny scratch.

Livin' On Tulsa Time

Yay!!!! We are finally back home in Tulsa!!!!! (okay so IRL we have been back since late last Thursday night BUT I really feel home now.)

The trip/LONG drive back was crazy and made worse by a terrible cold I came down with the day before we were to hit the road. Thanks to all of the Best Westerns we stayed at along the way for serving free breakfasts. It really made getting up at 6am in the mornings more manageable.

The Fan-freakin-Tastic E Family has been so kind to let us stay with them until our belongings arrive in the truck (on Tuesday we hope). YAY for A+++++++++ friends!!!! We LOVE them sooooooo much!!!

Here are a few (oops, I mean ALOT) of the pics from our trip back to T-Town.

Miss B begged me to take this pic and at the moment I just wanted to get on the road. Now I think it is crazy cool.


Mountains in Cali :)

This was the first time for me to see palm trees that weren't growing in a mall. I was in love. <3
I couldn't believe all of the windmills....as far as the eye could see.
AZ...hot and prickly. Maybe I felt this way because this was my worst sick day on the trip back.


The Mr humored me by stopping in Roswell so I could take pics of all the alien goodies (not those kind of goodies...I am not THAT interested in aliens). No real aliens were spotted this trip but B & I left with some awesome t-shirts.

The last day of driving I took zero pics. ...I know, sometimes I am boring.

Apartment Hunting Remotely

...and other thoughts on Moving

How fast time changes your life... A few short months ago we were searching SW Portland for a forever home and here I am today....packing up the townhouse and searching online for a short term apartment to live in (halfway across the country) while most of my belongings will live in a storage unit. I am so excited to get back to T-Town and get settled in. B is starting to get excited about yet another new school and about a million after school activities she would like to do. The Mr...well, he just wants the move to be over with and get back to work.

Since we are going to be driving the car back, I have packed a couple of bags for B and myself. These contain the usual girl stuff: Tons of clothes, about 3 pairs of shoes, a bathroom bag, a traveling pillow (or a traveling Murray in her case), a hair dryer and (most importantly) my flat iron. (I can NOT travel w/o the flat iron...I even took it with me when I went camping. ---For some reason I thought I could style my hair in the camp bathrooms....yeah.....notsomuch!) Now that B and I have all of our importants packed, I am wondering where we can fit the Mr's stuff.

***I got the long lost camera back from the Mr but the battery is dead. :( I'll get it all charged up and ready to picument our trip back :)

NOT the Mamma!!!!

The baby shower I co-hosted yesterday went off perfectly. The mom-to-be was showered with gifts, love and well wishes. The kids in attendance had a blast in the play area under the watchful care of Miss B. (My little girl is working on becoming a junior babysitter and doing a GREAT job!)

When I got home after helping out with the shower, I was pooped. After checking my email I left a comment on FaceCrack about how tired I was after running the baby shower......BIG MISTAKE!!!! When I checked my email a second ago I noticed a few comments asking if I was preggers?!?!?! ...WTF?!?!?! Are you kidding me??? I couldn't believe it! One of these comments was from my own brother. Um....wouldn't they think I would do better than to announce something like that on facebook? So I made another comment just now letting them know I am NOT the Mamma!!! One of my good friends here in PDX is and I am glad I was able to do this for her before I leave for T-town.

Whew! Now that I have got it out of my system, I am kinda laughing on the inside. Really... what kind of nut do they think I am?

Coach FTW

Yesterday I had to run some last minute errands before a baby shower we are co-hosting today which included a trip to the mall :) While we were there we made a quick stop off in the Kate Spade store to get Miss B some pencils for school next year. (Yeah, I know...who gets their kid designer pencils?...I do!!! And she knows as long as she keeps doing well in school then I will continue getting her fancy pencils BUT if she does poorly then she is back to the yellow #2s.) Well, the Kate Spade store was out of pencils soooooooo B was asking to check out if the Coach store was carrying any pencils. I have NEVER seen pencils at Coach before but wouldn't you know....there was a Poppy pencil display right at the front entrance of the store!!!! B was in Big Lurve. (Coach is her fave.) A handy dandy Coach clerk pounced on what he perceived to be a potential sale. Little did he know Miss B would be the one to score. Coach Clerk asked if we were interested in the Poppy pencils so I told him of the failed KS pencil procurement and how fab it would be if we could purchase these. He then told me of how I could spend major $$$$$ to get the pencils for free. I gave him my best Not On Your Life, Pal look so he told me I could go home and become a "fan of Coach on my Facebook account print out the verification sheet & bring it back in to get the pencils at no cost." "Sorry." I told him that we were moving many states away and this would be our last trip to the mall here.

Miss B must have seen her moment and jumped at the chance. She smiled sweetly at Coach Clerk and told him of her great LOVE of all things Coach and facebook too. "I would totally become a fan of Coach on Facebook BUT ....insert super sad face..... they deleted my account a couple of weeks ago :( " Coach Clerk took one look at my sweet sad little princess and asked us to wait a second. The next thing I knew he was coming back to us with a box of pencils. The sad face transformed to sheer joy in a nanosecond and the girl about jumped through the roof. "Thank you...Thank You....THANK YOU!!!!!!!!" she squealed.

Thank you so much to the kind Coach Clerk who put a little girl's happiness above his commission.

Brownie...fail

Wouldn't you know that the Mr would get sick at the VERY MOST inconvenient time EVER?!?!?! Guess who has been taking care of him since Friday when he came down with the crud. Yep. You got that right....ME. I have been the perfect little nursemaid....bringing him hot tea, meals, and making sure he takes his meds. (He's not senile and forgets to take them....he is a man and HATES to take any kind of medication.) I tried to sweeten the deal by baking brownies. This worked fabulously until yesterday when I was down to the last two. I brought the brownies over to Miss B and told her to take the smaller one of the two because she was smaller than her dad when......she went to go for the larger one, looked at me hopefully and said "BUT I have Big hopes :)" I told her to keep on hoping and gave her the smaller brownie.

I'm Getting There

Sooooooo....what was I thinking. The box free zone has totally gone out the window as well as just working on one area at a time BUT I do see progress and this makes me happy :) It is strange to see bookshelves sitting empty as well as empty dresser drawers. By the end of this week it is going to be like camping in my house. The one thing I am concerned about is what to do as far as food goes during the last few days. I really hate to go the whole fast food 3xs a day route and I think Miss B will revolt if I tell her we are going to do PB & J for every meal. Any suggestions here?

Tonight I am going to a karaoke place for a wedding reception tonight (at a karaoke place) and I am sooooo NOT prepared for this. We just purchased the gift yesterday along with wrapping paper and even MORE packing tape. The checker looked at me like I had lost my mind and said something like... "You know, you are NOT supposed to use that kind of tape when wrapping a gift???"......ummmm yeah, did this lady really think I was going to wrap this gift with heavy duty packing tape?! ....of course not I am going to make the Mr do it.

AND as if I am not crazy busy enough already I am helping to organize a baby shower for a friend to be held a few days before I leave PDX. I don't really know how much help I am at this point with all the brain drain I feel like I have. It's the thought that counts right? Let's just hope I can do more thank just think. :)

How Did They Do It?

About a year ago I was preparing for the move here to Portland and now I am making the move back...without packers. Yep, you got that right. We are the movers and the shakers in this operation. I have come to greatly respect those that can pack up an entire house in 1 day. I don't know how they did it but the three fabulous girl power packers did just that to move us the first time. Here I am today with half-filled boxes everywhere and my mind headed straight to crazy. If you have any moving/packing tips, I am all ears. For now I think I am going to just focus on ONE room at a time and then move on to the next and the next and the next because this half & half house is ridiculous. I can't wait to have one cleaned out room (even if it is my closet) completely free of boxes or things to put in boxes. I'm keeping my fingers crossed with hopes this new method will work.