One more time….turning it over to KT….

Hello again! My blog is almost done, so I am using my mom’s one more time.

The very first time we ever bought Crocs, and we buy three pairs! (Dad didn’t have his yet)

Here is Dad when he volunteered to be an extra at the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular show at Disney. See, he is the only one wearing Crocs! (He finally gave in a bought some!)

I hope you enjoyed my photohunt! Like I said, my blog is almost done, so go there when it is up and running!

To see more Photo Hunt pictures, click here: PhotoHunt

Technorati Tags: photohunt

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I was over at Jen’s place (that’s Jen, not Jenn!) and saw her post about what her name means.

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m out of deep-thinking content for you. Because you know my blog has always been on the cutting edge of “deep thinking!” So I thought I’d go ahead and find out what my name meant.

I was totally dumfounded by what my results were. I mean, so much so that I am thinking of legally changing my name!

Here’s my results (with my comments in bold)

What Karen Means

You are a seeker of knowledge, and you have learned many things in your life. I’ve especially learned not to believe personality tests like this You are also a keeper of knowledge - meaning you don’t spill secrets or spread gossip. Only because my memory is so bad I truly can’t remember who is messing around with whom and who was arrested for what! People sometimes think you’re snobby or aloof, but you’re just too deep in thought to pay attention to them. Seriously, if anyone even suspects I’m deep in thought, I actually might be dead. Start CPR! You are usually the best at everything … you strive for perfection. HA HA HA HA. Mom, would you like to comment on this one? You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. Uh. No. Wrong again. You have the classic “Type A” personality. Yeah, if “Type A” means kicking back, relaxing, going with the flow, and being flexible. You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You’re always up to something. Rebel? Uh. Nope. Not me. You have a ton of energy, and most people can’t handle you. You’re very intense. A ton of energy? No, I think I lost that when I had kids. If I have so much energy, how come my laundry is never done? You definitely are a handful, and you’re likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun. I’m a smart-alek. And that can get me into trouble. I do laugh a lot. Usually at myself. Or people like you! HA! You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. I am friendly. I’ll give them that much. And I do get along with almost everyone. Except those people that I don’t get along with. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. No, I’m not dead, or deep in thought. I actually laughed so hard at this one, I passed out! I’m better now, but the boat is still rocking! At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. TOTALLY agree! And if I don’t pull it together for the important things, then it all goes back to me not being a Type A personality. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people.All I understand is that I really don’t understand the world much at all. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. I do this. Especially if there is a what-if in my life. I tend to think the worst. Mike is 15 minutes late? It must be because he wrapped the car around a pole and is dead. Although I am getting better about not assuming things like this. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals. DING DING DING! We have a winner! Yeah, this is me. Heavier on the paranoia than the jealousy. Much heavier. And, by the way, I know you were all snickering about me behind my back!

What’s Your Name’s Hidden Meaning?

So, go ahead. Click the link and see what your name means. Or doesn’t mean.

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Why is it that going on vacation seems to create more work? I spend a week or two pre-vacation getting things in order. Making sure the bills are all paid. Cleaning the house. Arranging house and cat care. Making sure everything is just so.

And then we go away.

And we come home and it takes me a week or two to get back on track. Catching up on laundry. Paying more bills. Cleaning up from the whirlwind of coming home. Cramming in missed school. Trying to wade through my email inbox.

So today, I have nothing. Nothing exciting, nothing poignant, nothing compelling. So I’ll leave you with a few pictures. Because a picture tells 1000 words, right? It scares me what words these pictures tell!

There, a 6000+ “word” post for you.

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How funny is he?

He’s so funny, the next time I go to one of his shows, I will wear Depends!

We first met him on a Disney cruise. We watched the movie “Elf” in the Walt Disney Theater with his family. Ok, so maybe we were about 6 rows behind him and his family, but there was no one sitting in those empty rows, so in essence, we watched it with them, right?

Ok, I digress. Taylor Mason was on the Disney cruise not as a guest, but as an entertainer. He did a show in the main theater, then a special kid’s show, and then an adult only show. The refreshing thing about that last show is that it was squeaky clean. This proves that comedians don’t have to be crude and vulgar to be funny.

As an entertainer, he is a real renaissance man. Not only does he deliver jokes, he also plays the keyboard, sings, and the most amazing of all, he is a ventriloquist. I have never seen anyone do this as well as he does. The thing is, he brings the puppets to life so realistically, that when he is done with one and shoves it in a duffel, you actually feel bad. For the puppet.

So we laughed our way through several shows and after his final cruise show we stopped him and asked if we could get his picture with the kids. Here they all are in December of 2004.

We got wind that he was going to be in our area for a church show. Turns out he’s teamed up with another funny comedian (Thor Ramsey) and they are doing the Comedy Expedition Tour.

So we headed up there Sunday evening. Mike was a bit worried because he was on call. That means he had to try to get out of the office with enough time to get to the show (yes, they have Sunday hours) and there was the potential that he could get an emergency page and would have to leave quickly. Well, it all turned out fabulously and he didn’t get bothered at all.

And we laughed ourselves silly. For a couple of hours! It felt good to just let loose and laugh. And laugh.

Taylor did it again. He brought those puppets to life. There were the puppets that we’d seen on the cruise. There was Romeo….

And there was Paco the pig along with Robert the sheep. Although half way through, Robert turned into Britney Shears.


Whoa, just realized that Taylor wearing a black shirt makes him blend into the background. Now this picture is looking mighty freaky to me!

There were also some new ones…..

So horrible of me, I totally cannot remember this guy’s name. I think he’s related to the Smurfs though. Same shade of blue.

And there was this adorable baby pig. Taylor made him, but he goofed. He didn’t give him a mouth, but the pig still talked….or rather closed lipped hummed.

Thing is, when Taylor pulled this little guy (Paquito) out of his bag and put him on his hand, the audience let out an audible “Awwwwwwww.” Taylor seemed shocked (ok, he probably totally expected it, it probably happens at every show). He couldn’t believe people thought this little pig was real. But the thing is, he had done such an amazing job bringing all the other puppets to life, that you couldn’t help but think this little guy was real. He tried to remind us several times that it was “just his hand in a piece of material and foam” but I don’t think he convinced anyone of that. Paquito is real. I know he is.

Anyway, after the show we stopped him again (seems to be a thing with us). We had him autograph a copy of the picture with the kids and we took another sans puppets this time.

If you get a chance to see Taylor Mason in your area, do it. You will not regret it. You can find his schedule on his website (here) or at the Comedy Expedition Tour website (here).

Just don’t forget to wear your Depends!

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You all know I love and adore the recipes over at Pioneer Woman Cooks. Her low calorie low fat delicious recipes are definitely special! But one cannot cook like that every day without having to make an appointment for a triple bypass. I’m sure they get away with it as they are serious ranchers and do a lot more physical exercise than I do!

But what about those days when you find you only have one pound of butter and all of PW’s recipes call for two pounds?

Well, if you’re like me, you fall back on the old staples. The ones my mom taught me how to make both when I was growing up and since I’ve been married. Seeing as I weigh about 50 pounds more than when I got married, I’m obviously eating well! Of course, my mom’s “recipes” don’t come with measurements. It’s sort of a “add this until it looks right, stir until it’s thick enough, it’s done when it tastes right” kinda thing. That’s really hard to translate sometimes!

I’ve found another great resource. Start Cooking! Kathy Maister has put together a series of videos on the most basic of cooking skills. From cutting an onion, to separating an egg, to how to boil an egg!

From there she goes on to use these techniques to create easy recipes (always linking back to the basics just in case you forgot how to do something). My all time favorite of hers is the stuffed mushroom video. YUMM! I did modify a bit–I used italian sausage instead of bacon, but that was just personal preference. Here is her version with bacon. There is no picture of mine with sausage because they were gone too quickly!

Her videos are fun to watch and cleverly put together. I think you’ll like them even if you are an experienced cook.

She also has a blog that is updated daily with more recipes and also basic information. For example, there was recently a post about different types of salad greens. I’m a person that sticks with the basics–iceberg and green leaf–so it was very informative to read about the other types of “lettuce” out there. In fact, it encouraged me to start putting Boston Bibb lettuce in my salads and it’s very good! There was also an informative post about pressure cookers. I have one. I’ve had it for 10 years. I’ve used it once. I’m trying to get the guts up to use it now that I’ve read how wonderful they are!

A recent post, How to Make Eggplant Parmesan, looks good. It not only includes the recipe, but helpful information about eggplant. Did you know you had to “sweat” the bitterness out of an eggplant? Me neither! I never really thought I’d cook eggplant, but now I want to try! Doesn’t it look delicious?

This recipe for Roasted Asparagus with Garlic Sauce taught me a new (and in my humble opinion better) way to cook asparagus. I always had such trouble keeping my asparagus from getting mushy. I love the roasted taste too! The sauce, eh, it was just alright for me, man. But I’m fine with just plain asparagus! I did adapt this once. I sprinkled some soy sauce and sesame seeds on it! But Kathy taught me the basics of roasting asparagus so adapting was easy!

And this recipe, Fish Fingers, YUMMY! It really makes Gorton’s fish sticks taste nasty! The Gorton fisherman could learn a thing or two from Kathy! Seriously, which one would you rather eat? This one…..

Or this one???


Mary, check this out this posting. I think we could really make our Smoothie addicts happy! Although if I made Smoothie #11 for Nick, he may disown me as a mother!

For a full list of recipes on her site (both in blog and video form) click here.
(All images, except for the nasty fish stick one, are used with permission by Start Cooking.)

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