Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Meeting a Friend


I just want to say that we had an awesome trip this past weekend. All five of us were able to travel to the Hamilton, Ontario area and meet Ellie! How exciting! She's even cooler in person than she is online! (I didn't think she could get any cooler!) ;)

We stayed in Cleveland on the way there and in Buffalo, NY on the way back. A fun time was had by all. Shopping and frivolity ensued. I will share some pictures of the sights as soon as I get caught up on my work, as I took Monday off.

I was very happy to get back to my pet crew. I did miss them a bunch. Debbie, a big "thank you" for stopping by to look after the dogs. Big hugs!

More later.

Happy Birthday, Denise!


Happy Birthday!
(May all your cake be yummy on your lips, but absent from your hips!) ;)

Thursday, July 26, 2007

13 Things People Have Said to Me that Were Intended as Compliments but Ended up Sounding Like Insults in Disguise....



  1. The first pseudo-compliment was uttered when I was a teen by my best friend, Wyn, who I'd known since I was three years old. She was doing my makeup for a prom I was attending in my freshman year of high school. My date was a junior at a school several counties away, and his mom was on her way to pick me up for the big night. I was nervous, and as a result, I had developed a huge zit right in the middle of my nose. Wyn, older than me by six months, (and much wiser, I surmised) was working furiously at damage control, attempting to cover the blemish. She finished her work, stepped back, and declared, "Okay, done. You are going to look really good in the dark."
  2. I had just gotten my senior pictures back and was extremely satisfied with them. One of my friends, an amateur photographer, had taken them, and I was delighted with the results. I took them to work with me to share some with my coworkers. One of the first girls to see them shared my enthusiasm on how well the pictures turned out. "WOW!" she exclaimed, "These shots are great! They don't look anything like you!"
  3. I had only been married a couple of years, and at the time I was working as a waitress. Every day I wore black slacks, a white (man's) long sleeve dress shirt, a tie, and an apron. This was our required uniform. I had to wear my hair tied back in a bun, as it was pretty long. My guaranteed day off each week was Sunday, and on the way home from church one week, my hubby and I happened to see his uncle at our local grocery store. Before we even had a chance to start chatting, Robert's uncle assessed my church attire, complete with flowery dress, pantyhose and high heels, and he blurted out: "Wow! Kris! You actually look like a woman today!"
  4. Once I took an office job, the pounds began to creep up slowly. I decided to start a workout program, in hopes of winning the battle of the bulge. I had a stepper, which I used faithfully, and had worked up to about 45 minutes a day. I was losing weight, and was quite excited! I was speaking to my coworker and friend, who I could commiserate with on weight gain issues, as she had gained a few pounds over the years as well. I had just read an article that I found interesting, and welcomed her thoughts on the subject matter. "This article," I explained, "says that if a person carries their weight primarily in their rear, they should not use a stepper. It says that it will build additional muscle in the buttocks and make the person's backside appear that much larger." I paused, pondering this potential setback. "I wonder if I should change my workout routine?" I mumbled. My friend didn't take long to offer a response. "If you ask me," she declared, "It can't get any worse!" I think I laughed for ten minutes. My friend insists, to this day, that she was talking about herself when she made the comment, but I'm not totally convinced....
  5. "Wow! You sure carry your weight well!" is one I hear frequently....gotta love that one. :)
  6. My sister-in-law is the queen of backhanded compliments. One day she came over, just as I was getting ready to head out to run some errands. I had taken care with my makeup that day, something I didn't always do on my days off. Kay took notice. "Wow." she pointed out, "You really are one of those people who look a lot better with makeup on." (She is right.)
  7. You never know what my kids are going to come up with. They can slice and dice me without even intending to. One day my kids were looking through my high school yearbooks. They paused to read the inscriptions left by my fellow classmates, friends, former boyfriends, teachers, etc. My daughter was fascinated to see that I actually had a life before I married and had kids. After a bit, she formed a conclusion: "Mom, you know something? You were far too pretty back then to have all those ugly boyfriends." HUH?
  8. Likewise, the junior high yearbook perusing didn't turn out much better. I was an awkward preteen with huge owl-like glasses, braces, a poor complexion and a goofy hair cut. To say that my junior high school photos were unflattering would be an understatement. Jess struggled to find something positive to say in light of these rather embarrassing photos. "Well, Mom," she assured me, "At least you had good taste in shirts."
  9. Even my hair dresser got in on the fun. My friend had purchased a "works" session for me. So instead of just my usual cut, I was treated to eyebrow wax, hair color, etc. How fun! Trish had just finished doing my eyebrows and stood back to take a look. "They look great! See?" she showed me, quickly flashing a mirror in front of me. "Now, do you want me to do something about that mustache?"
  10. My husband also gets in on the double talk. One day he looked at me and said, "You know what? Your weight has never been an issue for me, no matter how much you've gained. I think you still look good." Uh...gee, thanks, hon.
  11. I made a grave error in the hair care aisle. Instead of grabbing my normal "light brownish auburn" shade to cover my gray, I grabbed something that was a more dark purplish red that screamed "Flaming redhead alert, avert your eyes!" My husband was shocked to see the change, but tried to give me a boost of confidence. "I'll be glad when that grows out, but until then, I'm just going to call you my little redbird." Okay, thanks for that, babe.
  12. This one is something my sweet, well intentioned hubby has said on more than one occasion: "I can always tell when you're losing weight, because your chin thins out right away." (What he's saying is, in reality, is that I go from two or three chins to one!) ;)
  13. When I got acrylic nails put on for the first (and last) time, my friend remarked, "Wow, your fingers don't look nearly as stubby now!" ;)

Hope you got at least a chuckle or two at my expense! ;) Have a great Thursday!

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Contest

There's a pretty neat contest going on over here:

http://lifeisrantastic.blogspot.com/

There's some money being raised for some great causes and a lot of fun stuff to check out.

Thought I'd share it with you! Have a great day!

Thursday, July 19, 2007

13 Things That I Consider Blessings


  1. My health: I feel great right now! I can breathe, move and talk without getting winded!

  2. My job, the same one I've had for nine years.

  3. My family!

  4. My friends!

  5. My pets!

  6. Clothes on my back...and then some.

  7. My blog and my personal journals...my ability to write in general.

  8. My house....I thought at one point I might not be able to buy it from my grandmother's estate, so I truly appreciate it now.

  9. My completed scrapbooks....I've lost track of how many. 40+ at least.

  10. My memories....sometimes they are bittersweet, but I have the ability to retain them.

  11. Many good books, which I have enjoyed reading lately...and the time to do it.

  12. I am thankful for the quiet times in my life.

  13. I feel blessed that when I lay my head down on my pillow, I sleep peacefully most every night. I am not in turmoil or tortured by emotions through the night. I am so glad!


Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Something Touching

This is a blog link that I plan to add a "badge" on my sidebar for as soon as I figure out how to do that. Anyway, this blog author runs a dog (and cat) rescue. It has some wonderfully touching stories and the blog author has a wonderfully caring heart. If you have time to check it out, you'll be glad you did.

http://www.aplacetobark.blogspot.com/

A Tiny Bit of Fanfare:

It slipped by without me even noticing, but I have been officially blogging for 3 years as of this past Monday. It has been such an enriching experience for me. If I would have known how many great people I would have met, I'd have started much sooner. Thank you to all of my "blogger peeps" for your kindness, support, and friendship over the years! Hugs!

My First "Wordless Wednesday" Post

Monday, July 16, 2007

I Might Actually Get to Post About My Vacation Time...

Okay, before something comes up that prevents me from posting:

Here's what we did....

Went to the drive in (that's where we rang in the 4th...for the third year running) and saw "Transformers" and "Evan Almighty." Both great movies.


We went to the movies on the day of my birthday/our anniversary...yay! I finally got to see "Fantastic Four...2." Another good action movie. Robert got me some newly released Strawberry Shortcake dolls. Jo and Robert got me a sweet card, 3 roses, a mug with a stuffed dog in it, and a little singing sunshine character that sits on a shelf and sings "You are my Sunshine." Say THAT five times fast. ;) Jess got me some "toasty almond" lip gloss from Victoria's Secret. We saw fireworks that night, and we had cake and ice cream the following day. (We were all too tired after the fireworks to stay up and enjoy the cake.)

Went "yard selling," and "thrift store browsing," and "outlet mall shopping" also in the middle of the day throughout my week off. Yep, I was excited to be able to do stuff in the middle of the day, because usually I am stuck in the office during prime daylight hours.



I did a little card making and read a fluff novel. Spent some extra time with the kids and the pet crew. Went out to eat a couple of times.

On the second Friday I was off I took Jess, her friend, our neice, DeeDee, and Jo to a beach close to Columbus. It was nice. They had a great time, and it was some much needed time away.

When my plans to see my uncle fell through due to some unforseen family issues he had, I was bummed at first. Then I planned to go see Ellie, and I was sure that was a "go." Well, McDonald's ended up giving Josh a hard time about trying to take the weekend off without adequate notice, so we decided to try it again sometime soon. Perhaps the end of July? I'm still working on the details on that, and crossing my fingers that it works out this time.

I slept in ALOT, got my sleep schedule all out of whack like a little baby. :) When I came back to work, I was exhausted for three days. Wheh! But I did get some great naps in and extra zzzzzs. When I am stressed, I cope by writing or sleeping. Needless to say, I was pretty stress free that week due to all the naps I got in.

The last day of my vacation I went to a friend/neighbor's home for a barbeque, which was fun. She gave me a vintage Strawberry Shortcake glass from the 80s. How cool!

I played catch up all last week at work.

This weekend, I spent most of Saturday with my friend, Tracy. She's my friend that has four month old twin boys. Plus she has a four year old daughter. Tracy's husband took the kids to see his parents in Columbus, so she had a very rare free day. Tracy works full time, takes school online and raises her family. She is amazing!

Anyway, I felt so honored that she would want to spend her one free day in MONTHS with me. We've been friends since 3rd grade, but it's only been the last couple of years that we've stayed in touch faithfully. The first few years after high school we were spending lots of time together. Then she got married, life got hectic for both of us, and we drifted apart. Back in 2003 we started hanging out a bit more, and I am so glad we did. Tracy's mom, who passed away in 2004, was instrumental in getting us reconnected. I will always be grateful to her for that.

During our "girls' day out," Tracy took me out to lunch for my birthday. We ate at a "make your own stir fry" restaurant at a fancy new mall that a neighboring town just opened last year. That was fun!

The waiter seemed to be flirting through our entire meal, but I just chalked it up to him vying for a better tip. After all, he was probably in his mid twenties. At the end of the meal, Tracy and I were taking pictures of each other to save to our phones. That way when Tracy calls me, her photo will come up....and visa versa.

At that point, the waiter asked if he could give me his phone number so I could "text" HIM. HAHA! Imagine that! I said, "I don't think my husband would appreciate that too much." After that, he was conspicuously absent from our table. Thank goodness we were done eating and the bill paid, or we may have gone hungry. Lol.

I've got some pictures to share of my week off, so here we go:




My birthday cake:







My goodies from Robert:























And Jo's: (Did I mention he bought these with the money we give him for feeding the guinea pigs every day? They were discounted items from Mother's Day...he was so happy he got a good deal so he could buy me more than one thing. What a sweet boy!)












The kids enjoying the beach. Btw, I don't know the guy walking past....;)





Some sunsets we got to see along the way:








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Last but not least, for sure:

I got a package from Denise today, which was so cool! I love it! It's like getting to draw my birthday out a little longer...have I mentioned I love birthdays? I am such a big kid...

Denise got me an inspirational women's book, a cute little angel girl that I plan to keep on my pc speakers, and a lovely bookmark. I chuckled, as well, at her very "uplifting card." ;)



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So, that's it for now. Hope you're having a great week! More later.




Thursday, July 12, 2007

13 Ideas I've Had for Getting Rid of Telemarketers

At work, I deal with telemarketers every day. Some are easy to deal with, others are huge pains in the butt. I get some really sarcastic, hateful folks on the other end of the line. I've come up with 13 ideas (some of them I think I've heard somewhere before) for getting these delightful people off the phone. I can't actually do all of these, in reality, but maybe you can.



  1. My favorite one goes something like this: Hi, you have reached_______. If you are calling for accounts receivable, press 1. If you are calling for sales, press 2. If you are calling for customer service, press 3. If you would like to place an order, press 4. If you would like to speak to someone in shipping, press 5. For human resources, press 6. For safety, press 7. For maintenance, press 8. For receiving, press 9. For accounts payable, press 10. To reach the employee directory, press 11. Finally, if this is a sales call, please press 12..... at which point, they would be immediately be disconnected. (Insert evil laugh here.)

  2. "What?! You want to speak with Bob? I thought he was with you!! What have you done with him?!!!"

  3. This one I actually do: "I'm sorry, no, we don't purchase our ________(insert applicable item here) in house. We have all of that purchasing outsourced. But thank you for calling." People hang up, simply out of confusion.

  4. The cruel method that wastes the telemarketer's time: permanent hold....I confess, I actually do that one, too. It usually works swimmingly.

  5. I've heard this one somewhere: "I'm sorry, I'm a little busy cleaning up the crime scene from the latest homicide here. Can you call back in a couple of hours?"

  6. Put down the phone for an extended period of time and play "Tiptoe through the Tulips" by Tiny Tim as "hold music."

  7. Carry on a long drawn out conversation with them. "You know, he's away from his desk, but maybe we could chat while we wait for him to come back. So, what's going on in your world today? Have you seen any good movies lately? I have...in fact, I just saw "Transformers, and it was awesome. Let me tell you all about it...."

  8. "Hold on, I'll try his extension. Oh darn! Hold on a second. The string just broke and now the cup has a crack right where the string goes in. I can't get any reception at all. Can you call back later? No? You're in and out of the office? Okay, hold on a second." (pause for effect.) Yell, in your loudest voice: "JIM!!!!!!!!!!!!! TELEPHONE CALL!" Wait a moment. "Sorry, he's not answering his page...."

  9. "No, I'm sorry, he's no longer with us. We can't replace him until the FBI finishes their inquiry. But thanks for calling."

  10. "No, we really aren't interested in that free publication. Our production manager isn't allowed any flammable materials in his office any more after that last fire. So we try to keep the paper goods to a minimum around here."

  11. "No, I'm sorry, I can't connect you to our owner. He passed away several years ago." (This one is, sadly, true.) "No, I can't leave a message for him. He's a little busy there in heaven."

  12. "No, we aren't interested in having our roof repaired or replaced. We've decided when it caves in, we're just going to install a skylight."

  13. And finally, "No, I can't tell you the model number of the copier here. It's being guarded by a rabid pit bull and we're only allowed to get close to it for two days during month end. During the rest of the month, we have to copy everything by hand on the back of last years' sales reports."

Oh, the things our minds think up when we've had too much (or too little) coffee! ;)


Tuesday, July 10, 2007

A B C's of me

I am thinking about doing an ABC album about who I am. I think it would be a good thing to leave behind for my kids when I depart this earth one day. So, I am going to use this post as my practice run. On most ABC albums, several descriptive words are used for each letter. (If possible.) This helps paint a more detailed picture of the subject. If I can get through this, maybe you'd like to try it out on your blog....

A.) affectionate, assertive, allergic, animal lover
B.) blogger, big butted :)
C.) capable, curious, caring, Christian, cautious
D.) determined, dutiful
E.) emotional, eclectic
F.) friend, Foster (maiden name), funny, forgiving
G.) goofy, gregarious, generous
H.) hopeful, helpful
I.) introspective, Irish, insecure
J.) jovial, jester
K.) Kristi Kay, knowledgeable
L.) listener, loving, loquacious, laid back
M.) Mom, music lover, moody
N.) niece, Native American, nervous
O.) optimistic, overwhelmed, open minded
P.) poetic, patriotic, passionate, peace loving
Q.) quirky, quiet (at times)
R.) researcher, romantic, restless, rebellious
S.) sarcastic, silly, sister, sensitive, scrapbooker
T.) tenacious, temperamental, trusting
U.) understanding, undisciplined, underrated and under-appreciated ;)
V.) vocal, vain
W.) writer, wife, worrier, worker
X.) "X-tra stumped" on the "X" word ;)
Y.) Young (at name and at heart)
Z.) zookeeper (a zoo is what I have at home...aka Noah's ark)

Friday, July 6, 2007

Thirteen Reasons July 4th is my 2nd Favorite Holiday...even if this IS a day late.


  1. It's a very happy holiday, full of history and tradition.

  2. People in the US get in really good moods, especially when they get an extra day off.

  3. I get the day off.

  4. It's my birthday! (1972)

  5. It's my wedding anniversary! (1991)

  6. Fireworks are fun!

  7. Grilling out is fun!

  8. It's not Christmas, so it doesn't get first place...but it is a close 2nd.

  9. I like donning my red, white and blue and celebrating.

  10. I enjoy the national anthem, especially when people sing it that can actually sing.

  11. When the weather is nice, pool or beach time is a possibility.

  12. Potato salad, macaroni salad, fruit salad...there's bound to be some sort of yummy salad served on the 4th.

  13. Did I mention the fireworks? ;)

Sunday, July 1, 2007

My Goodies From Ellie!


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Such a cute nightlight!


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The Baby Dwarf Hamsters


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It's really hard to tell just how small they are, but take the lettering on Jo's shirt as a reference point...



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The one Jo is holding in this bottom photo had rickets...basically softening of the teeth and loss of hair due to the inability to eat hard food. I gave her romaine lettuce for a week, and she is growing, eating, and her hair is back. What a relief!

Some Photos That I've Been Promising to Share....

Some shots of the non-work related part of our trip:
The water in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park...

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Some folks enjoying the water:


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The amazing trees:





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The area of the park we visited:




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What a Place to Build a House....What a view....way up on the side of the mountain!



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Why they call it the Smoky Mountains.....



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Why they post falling rock signs.....




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Have you ever been cut off by a giant ice cream cone in traffic? Just wondering....


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At least they put the "closed" sign out before they drove away.....;)