O is for Oklahomans

Pardon me for my lateness with this post. Work has been exhausting, volunteer training has finished up, and last weekend I was sick sick sick. Other than that, we are super close to the end of deployment!! I have tried to adopt this motto : Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass. It is about learning to dance in the rain! So this is me, dancing in the rain of Andrew being gone, instead of just waiting for it to be over.

A couple weeks ago, Kevin's parents came to visit, and I had the pleasure of meeting them and getting to spend time with the Delker clan while they were here. One thing they had talked about doing was going whale watching! I have never been, but Andrew and I always talked about wanting to go out on a trip to see some orcas. The season that whales are in Puget Sound is April till October, so we were at the tail end. I felt kind of terrible having the opportunity to go without Andrew, because we always like check things off our bucket list and have "firsts" together, but after talking with him, he assured me I should go when I had the chance and I "better have fun." After all, if I didn't go with KP and his parents, there wouldn't be another chance till next year.

Kevin and the parents picked me up bright and early in the morning. Like really early. We first had to drive about an hour and a half to Anacortes, then catch a ferry to Friday Harbor, which is one of many little towns in the San Juan Islands. From Friday Harbor we would get on the whale boat and let the fun begin!

Anacortes, WA

Anacortes was a super cute town. There wasn't time to explore it, but we did have time to grab some coffee and treats before we got onto the ferry. We drove Kevin's truck right onto the ferry and then found a seat upstairs.

It was about an hour ride to Friday Harbor. I spent the majority of the time just staring out the windows at the gorgeous Puget Sound scenery, yet, hoping not to get Sound sick. Hey, ya never know. Kevin and I discovered you walk like a drunk person while wandering around the decks of a moving ferry. Little sheltered Kelsey has never been on a cruise ship, but I assume my experience on the ferry was similar, probably less wavy. Here's some pictures from the ride over....

( I just love Mr. Delker's boots! He was cowboy moseying all over the streets of Seattle!) Well, we arrived in Friday Harbor, and what do ya know? There is no room on the boat. Woospies! Since Kevin called late the day before we went there, the place never called back, and therefore, never reserved our spots on the boat :( sad day. BUT we made the best of it! Simply driving around Friday Harbor was worth the trip; it was soooo pretty as all the leaves were changing. God really makes his presence known around fall time doesn't he? Kevin had a friend who knew of a nice park on one side of the island so we made our way over there and ended up spending quite a while just walking around, enjoying the nice day, and having a little history lesson!



Look at the size of that tree compared to Mr. D!

If you can't read the words on the sign, it says that in 1859 the killing of a pig on San Juan Island almost brought England and the US to war because of territorial rights here. While the problem was being worked out, both parties set up camp on this land. They were peaceful here until 1872 when the British garrison was abandoned. Andrew would have gotten a kick out of all the signs and reading about the old buildings that still stand here. I took pictures of all of them for him :)

The trees were my favorite part, I wish they could tell stories. The ornamental garden was used to separate the officers from the other soldiers, hmmm sounds kind of familiar!

After a little BBQ lunch (that was child's play compared to my beloved Kansas City BBQ), we headed back to the dock for a sleepy ferry ride to Anacortes, and even sleepier car ride back to Seattle. It was a great day with some awesome, down to earth, funny, kind people. I was so glad they got a chance to see Kevin, and spend some quality time with him, and especially was thankful they let me be apart of their time here! Here's to hoping my family will get a chance to come explore the Puget Sound soon as well!

xoxo,
KLM

M is for Magnet Mania

So my bestest Megan and I have both started getting quite crafty lately, if I do say so myself. She saw an idea for some photo coasters. You take a plain tile, add a photo to it, spray a sealant over the top, and poof! Personalized coasters! After thinking about it, I was like, welllll that'll scratch the table, so I'd have to get some cork board or felt as well. I prefer to craft, or cook, with as little ingredients as possible. The less random things I have to buy, the better.


I'm not sure if I dreamed it, or thought of it right as I was falling asleep. But I dreamed that I made mini photo coasters, and they were magnets! And now that my gift magnets have been delivered, I can tell you how I made them!


I found 2x2 inch tiles at Lowes. Got a whole sheet of em, 36 or so, for like $3. I picked photos on my computer, put the in a Word document, and adjusted their size to 2x2. It's great to have your own printer, because I don't know many, ok, any, Walgreens that will print a picture exactly 2x2, trust me, I tried.

Cut out the photo. I scored the tiles with scissors, just to make sure the photos would stay stuck. Sorry for my crappy lighting!

If you haven't heard of Mod Podge, then you must be living under a non-craft world rock. People use this stuff for EVERYTHING. It's like decoupage glue stuff. I've never used it, but I know you're supposed to spray a clear acrylic sealant over it, and that's just one more ingredient I would have to buy. *FACT ALERT* Did you know Mod Podge will actually burn through your pictures after an unknown amount of time? At least that's what the craft store lady told me. So she recommended this Glue N' Seal, especially for photos, and you don't have to buy a sealant, because it's built in!

Apply a thin layer to the tile, and stick on your picture. Tip from Kelsey's mistake: Emphasis on the thin, it will wrinkle up if you use too much. Then I flipped the tile over so the weight of the tile helped the photo stick, and let it dry overnight.

The next day, you can take scissors, and some sandpaper (I used a small grit sanding stone), and cut off the excess photo paper. With the sanding stone, you can gently shave the photo down so it's flush with the tile. Such a neat trick if I do say so myself :)  

Next I glued the magnet to the back, so that when I go to add a coat of sealant, I don't seal it to the table. The magnet lifts the tile off the counter so nicely!

Now its time for some sealin! Apply another thin layer to the tile. I was sure to run my sponge brush along all of the edges as well. Don't want the edges to come loose! And whichever way you brush the glue, make sure it's neat and tidy, because you will see faint brush strokes when the glue dries. It starts out cloudy, but dries clear, so don't panic if you can't see your pictures after a coat of glue.

As you can see I didn't follow my own rule on this example tile, and glued the magnet on after I sealed it. Don't worry, it only stuck a little bit! 

 Finished product yay!

I made a whole herd of them for our fridge :) The perfect way to make your fridge personalized, and practical!



C is for Cheeseburger....SOUP!

It is beginning to be soup weather!! The colder it gets the more I start craving hot, hearty, comfort foods. And the longer Andrew is gone, the more I start realizing, my recipie box is like a treasure chest! It keeps me busy, and fed which are both important during a deployment :)
I love cuddling up in the blankets with a bowl of soup. A whole meal in one bowl mmmm hmmmm. And if a pumpkin spice candle is burning it makes the scene much more amazingfull. Here's a recipie from my Momma that will be my lunch for the whole week I'm sure.

Cheeseburger Soup

• 1/2 lb hamburger
• 3/4 c. chopped onion
• 3/4 c. chopped carrots
• 3/4 c. choppedd celery
• 1 tsp. basil
• 1 tsp. parsley
• 4 Tbsp. margarine
• 3 c. chicken broth
• 4 c. diced potatoes
• 1/4 c. sour cream
• 1/4 c. flour
• 2 c. Velveeta, cubed
• 1 1/2 c. milk
• Salt and pepper to taste

-Brown and drain hamburger.

-Saute onion, celery, carrots, basil and parsley in 1 Tbsp. margarine until tender (about 10 min)

-Add broth, potatoes and hamburger. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer till potatoes are tender

-In another saucepan, melt remaining margarine, add flour, cheese, milk, salt and pepper. Mix well until smooth.

-Remove from heat and blend in sour cream.

-Add mixtures together and ta-daaaaa!

I used ground turkey, and extra celery and onions. Momma adds peas, corns and green beans sometimes. Adapt how you wish, and munch away!

Oh, and there's an example of my "bread bowl," which is actually just a french bread sandwich roll cut into a circle and hollowed out ha! Until next time....

Cheers,
KLM

W is for Wreath!

I completed my very first crafty thing. I don't know what brought on my sudden urge to start making a whole bunch of stuff, but it is so fun! Making things with my hands (cooking, painting, crafting) has become a sort of therapy and big way to occupy myself. Ever since this fall super-Seattley weather has hit, I definitely notice the change in my moods. For the last couple days, my brain feels like the sky looks, just kinda grey and "blah." So it's always nice to make something pretty to hang up, and celebrate the season, instead of just hibernating in it.

My inspiration came from a sweet little blog, Twig & Thistle. Until recently, the author was out of commission, but now she's back, and has such cute ideas! The wreath caught my eye because it's so different. You know me, I love love love things that are different, unique, one-of-a-kind. My wreath turned out a little less sweet-looking than Twig&Thistle, but I still like it :)

I bought some fall leaf garland and cut off the leaves rather than buy them individually (There is no Hobby Lobby here, and frankly, Michael's sucks).



And then, I spray painted them with a white primer. There are about 60 leaves here. I only ended up using like half of them though. 

Careful not to spray paint the balcony! As you can see, there was something weird about the primer reacting to the way the leaves were colored, so some yellow showed through, but that was ok, didn't need to be perfect. While they were drying I took ribbon and wrapped the wreath ring (say that 10 times fast!) with a coordinating color of ribbon. Tip #1 discovered by error: Make sure you pull the ribbon tight as you're gluing or pinning it to the ring. Otherwise you get little wrinkles and may run out of ribbon towards the very end!

Once they were dry I divided the leaves into 3 piles, for the 3 shades of purple I would be painting them. Tip #2: Whenever possible, use spray paint! Painting those suckers with a sponge brush took FOREVER. And the coverage was spotty so I ended up "dabbing" them with the sponge for like, a couple hours.

Tip #3: When applying multiple layers/things to a wreath, pins are probably a good idea, so you can move stuff. I hot glued all these puppies down, which was great, until I decided I wanted to move one. Those leaves are strong. So here's my end product, to which I added some festive fall berry things to give it some more fallish color.

Don't mind me and my lack of hanging devices. I had to impromptu-hang it on the kitchen cabinets until I get some sticky hooks for the door, teeheehee. I'll update this post with pictures when the wreath is hanging majestically on the door where it should be! Now be festive and go make your own!

H is for Hell

Hell Running that is! This past weekend, I joined Kevin and some friends from his squadron for a little somethin’ called a Hell Run. This 3 mile race isn’t your average 5K. We drove about 20 miles outside Seattle (which takes over an hour, annoying), to the little town of Carnation, WA.  It was misty and a tad chilly. Little did I know it was about to get a lot cooler.

We were running late so after getting all checked in, I only had the chance to take one pre-race picture. Here’s my bib number, complete with custom nickname!

Yes it is true. I am a small person who is a badass. When the whistle for our wave of runners blew to begin, we were in the dead last of the line. I only had 2 goals when I signed up for this thing. 1) Do not come in last. 2) Don’t stop and walk. I was not starting out in a position conducive to accomplishing goal #1!

The obstacles started right off the bat, with a wall of dirt, running through corn fields, and the most slippery pits of mud EVER. Being the last group of runners of the day was not a smart choice.  All the mud had been climbed over and soaked with water/rain that trying to climb up an incline between mud pits was nearly impossible. I watched people get to the top of the hill, then do some human bowling while they slid alllllll the way back down.  I quickly learned not to climb behind people, and chose the stickier, less-traveled side of the hill.  That was followed by a 10 foot climbing wall, of course, a slippery one. The worst obstacle of them all was a 100 yard-ish walk up a river. Upstream walking is not the easiest task in the first place, but you add in cold mountain water, cold rain on your head, and my height (which means the water level was way up past my belly button) and that was one cold Kelsey.  I didn’t feel my butt cheeks until another long stretch of running was over. The remaining obstacles included smaller climbing walls, ducking under beds of barbed wire, jumping over fire, more mud pits that steal your shoes, and a final, huge wall, that you had to use a rope to climb up.  

Kevin and I finished the race together and I was so proud that I never stopped to walk, not once!  I was a little upset because my time would have been so much better if I wouldn’t have had to stop and have an archaeological dig for my shoe in the mud pit! Thick mud is worse than quick sand I tell ya.

Although it was a cold, messy, tiring day, I am proud of the accomplishment, and not finishing last. In fact, our time was in the top 1/2 of finishers!  That’s right, not only did I finish last, I beat about 1500 people.  My banged up, bruised, sore body was worth it I would have to say.  I am afraid running on the treadmill or in the park might just be too dull for me now...or maybe not.

 Happy survival faces

September Favorites

Well, it is that time again.....The month of September has flown by, has it not?? I better not say that too loud, or October will take it’s sweet time. I’ve kept myself busy with preschool activities, tons of crafty things, and getting back into the world of studying marine biology. My favorite things this month to keep busy/read/dream about are as follows….

• Being cheap. I tried clipping coupons. The prices I am used to in Kansas and Oklahoma are long gone, and I do not enjoy grocery shopping here! I also realized I don’t particularly enjoy clipping coupons eitherJ I tried online coupon searching, which led to a lot of websites asking me to sign up for junk. As my mother will tell you, signing up for GREAT DEALS online, only leads to a mass amount of junk mail, and baby formula samples being sent to your home. Luckily, I still had some newspaper ads hanging around for some future art projects, and I sifted through them. Oh.my.goodness. How obnoxious! The ones I found were expired, or only valid at Target, which we don’t even have! All was not lost though, there was a little booklet called redplum, and that little guy gave me a glimmer of hope for the coupons. However, I think it also makes me want to buy things that aren’t on my list. Oh no! Their tactics are working! Online coupons-0 Old fashioned clipping- 1

• New Girl. Zoey Deschanel is one of my favorite actresses, and she has a new TV series that gives me something to look forward to every Tuesday. (In the world of preschool, Terrible Tuesdays are my least favorite day. Mondays are exciting to 3 and 4 year olds, they get to tell all their friends about their weekends and school is fun. But by Tuesday, it's back to work and they have an attitude of general displeasure towards everything. It never fails. Every week.) Zoey’s character is a goofy, fun loving girl living with a group of guys, and I laugh the whole time. And she tends to make ordinary sentences into songs, which, thanks to preschool, I also do. I feel we are connected in that way. Just watch it.

• Pinterest. Um. I am obsessed. I mentioned in my first blog ever I was thinking about getting an account to organize all the cool thoughts in my head. Well, I don’t even have an account yet, and I spent approximately 3 hours on the HOMEPAGE of Pinterest. Yes I realize that sounds ridiculous but I couldn’t help it, it sucked me in. There is just so.much.STUFF... INTERESTING.STUFF! It definitely will keep me occupied for many, many months to come. Which is awesome, because the busier I am, the faster the days go by J C’mon November! (Pinterest has many things that I plan on encouraging Andrew to join me in: baking, crafts, cute outfits, etc. I know he can’t wait!!)

• PUPPIES. Many women find that time in their lives where all they want is a baby. Their maternal instinct kicks in, and all they want is a little bundle of joy. I’m not there. BUT. Lately, all I want is a puppy! If I’m not at work, sleeping, eating, or on Pinterest, I’m looking at dogs. All I do is torture myself because I know that without a yard, it wouldn’t be smart. But wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a happy, drooley smiley to greet me at the door when Andrew can’t do it?? (Just kidding babe, you don’t drool when you smile, only during sleep) Or a companion to run with? And someone to dress up with for Halloween?? Oh, my imagination is just going to make it worse! A girl can dream….

• KS Necklace. I’m so proud to be a Kansan. Seattle is amazing, but as my great, college biology professor, Dr. Charlie Hunter once told me in regards to moving to Oregon after retirement: “Prairie roots run deep!” Yee haw! I miss home. And the people there. A lot.

• Deletion of arm fat. Cheerleading gives you nice, toned arms. Pushing 4 yr olds on the swings, and coloring, does not. Nuff said.

• Crafty craft crafting. I’ll post pictures when they’re done….let’s just say I’ve been a busy bee! Not just crafting things for myself though. Family and friends: prepare to be blown away for any holidays in the upcoming months! I absolutely love being creative for other people’s enjoyment J

Cheers,

KLM