Jeremy & Kayla

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A Katie-ism to report

Thanks to Teresa C there is a name for the crazy, wierd, odd, funny, sometimes embarrasing, usually inconvenient things that always seem to happen to me. The friends who will still go shopping with me will not go to the same checkout because chances are I'll get charged way to much or way to little for something, or the conveyer belt will quit, or the person in front of me will pass out...things like that, that tend to extend the quick trip to the store to a real pain.
So the Katie-ism of the day:
When I register a patient at work, they sit down accross the desk from me, and I start typing and asking questions, etc...so I looked up at the lady and her husband who just sat down, and saw a big brown spider walking on her fluffy white hair...really. So I think I said..."uhhh, there is a bug in you hair...sit really still" and I grabbed some paper and walked around the desk..trying to get her husband out of the way..and then I just swacked the spider up and off her head as fast as I could...I can only imagine what that looked like!.next thought.."uh oh...I wonder where the spider is now???" Well it landed in the middle of my desk..and when the lady saw it she let out a shriek, as I charged around the desk and smashed it as hard as I could with the same papers. I picked up the paper to see if I got the spider..I really should have skipped that step..it was permanently embedded in the paper..It looked sort of like a sticker! So I got out the germ killer wipes, cleaned up the desk, and we went right on with the paper work....just one more funny story to tell later I guess. I actually usually trap the bugs in a glass and throw them outside, but I don't think that would have worked too well this time.

Next Recipe

2 Tablespoons vegie oil
4 cups pecan halves
1 1/2 cups water
3 cups granulated sugar
2 Teaspoons vanilla (divided)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Preheat over to 325o. Line 2 baking sheets with foil; brush foil lightly with oil.
Combine pecans, water and sugar in a saucepan. Stirring occasionally, bring to a boil over medium heat. Continue to boil, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes.
Remove nuts with a slotted spoon; spread then on baking sheets in a single layer. Nuts should not touch one another. Bake for 25 minutes or until they turn a deep toasty brown.
Remove pans from oven, let nuts cool slightly. Leave oven turned to 325o.
Push nuts into a mound in the center of each baking sheet, making sure the nuts are not stuck together.
Drizzle 1Tablespoon oil and 1 teaspoon vanilla over each mound; toss to coat evenly. In a small bowl mix together salt, cinnamon, and pepper. Sprinkle mixture over nuts, half for each baking sheet. Toss until nuts are evenly coated.
Spread nuts in a single layer. Bake for 10 minutes or until browned and crisp.
Let cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 10days.

Thanks Susan and Dell

I took a week off and Erin and I went to Boulder to stay with Susan and Dell. Susan's preschool has week long summer sessions called Summer Play, and this is the second year Erin has gotten to be Susan's guest. From 9:00 to noon the kids just play...and Erin LOVES it. There are lots of things to do,,,painting, swings, crafts, kiddie pools, snack time, tricycles, a doll bath (like a bubble bath with dolls to scrub)etc., just 4 mornings of fun. And I get to drop her off and then scout around Boulder for my favorite shopping places. I spent one morning watching Sasha School shop for supplies for her class and then had lunch with her and two other women who teach with her at Fort Lupton. Interesting to hear "teacher talk" rather than hospital talk! Susan and I went to the movie "UP", went to yard sales one morning etc. Erin got time at the park, we both got to sleep in every day, read Susan's books, watch Susan's movies and I just didn't have to go to work for a whole week. We drove home on Thursday after preschool, kiddie pool time with the "granddaughter next door", Amaya, and a quick visit to the Denver Zoo. I'm already ready for another week off!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Seven Layer Brownie Bars

One box (1 lb 6.5 oz) Betty Crocker brownie mix with Hershey syrup
1/3 c butter or margarine, melted
1 egg
1 c cocount flakes
1 c Heath toffee bits
1 c dark chocolate chips
1 c chopped pecans
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

grease bottom of 13x9 pan
heat overn to 350

In large bowl, stir brownie mix,Hershey syrup from mix,butter and egg until well blended.
Press into pan and bake 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and top brownies with coconut, toffee chips,chocolate chips and pecans
Drizzle evenly with condensed milk. Bake 40 to 45 minutes longer, or until edges are bubbly and center is set. Cool completely..about two hours. cut into 9 rows by 4 rows
makes 36 bars.

On Saturdays Miss Judy holds Story Hour at the Barnes & Noble bookstore. Corduroy the Bear was the guest of honor last Saturday. First the kids made bear ears to wear and then Corduroy walked out, escorted by Miss Judy. I think he has some vision problems, because it took him some time to navigate to the little stage and he was too big to fit between most of the bookshelves. He almost biffed it geting up the step to his chair...which was dangerously small. I was a little worried for Corduroy.... The kids loved him, and Erin knows he is really REAL. She picked two little weed flowers to give to him, and when she couldn't find the flowers when he came in, she started to have a melt down..so we quickly made a "flower" out of the bear ear materials and the day was saved!

"This is a Real House, Not a Playhouse"

Photo Shoot

I can't believe 2 months have passed and it's already time for Matt and Sun Ju to go back to Korea....We got together at Long's park for some pictures....(thanks to Rod Beynon for the great photos).

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Why we love yard sales

Interview with Granny

Welcome home Matt & Sun Ju

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How can you not feed a stray cat???

Being the owner of three cats and thinking having more than two puts one on the verge of becoming a crazy cat person with dozens of cats, the last thing I need is another feline family member...but how can you not feed a big skinny scruffy hungry looking beast that shows up at the door???

Mother's Day '09

After Mother's Day dinner at Jer's Tori and Mondo went into the back yard and started playing with Erin's bat and ball. Tori threw the ball up, swung, missed...threw the ball up again, swung, missed...third try, threw the ball up, swung and sent the ball flying...right to the side of Mondo's head!...I don't know if he was more surprised that she hit the ball or that it smacked him on the head!

Return to the blog world:

I have had trouble accessing photos or other difficulties trying to post to the blogsite lately, so I just give up and so the long time between posts. I think I have the photo problem figured out...so now to try to make up for lost time!

I posted the pictures of Mom/Grandma Bemis on Mother's day...So we've made it a year...

Easter Weekend

More crazy Spring weather for Easter Weekend...It rained Friday night, Saturday most of the day, and was rainy and wet on Sunday until about noon. Erin and Jeremy dyed Easter eggs on Thursday evening..I dropped by with her veggie tray to take to her day care party, and stayed for dinner and long enough to make sure they were doing a proper job of coloring the eggs.
On Friday Erin took eggs to school to dye with her class, and then they walked to Lincoln park for a big Easter egg hunt and picnic.
Saturday morning was an indoor Easter Egg hunt at St Mary's..It was in the medical Pavillion because of the rain. It was SOO crowded..I just let Erin go with the 7 year olds, because we couldn't get through the hall to her age group! But she got to see the Easter Bunny and had fun picking up plastic eggs filled with candy.
After that we zoomed over to Barnes and Noble for story time, and a visit from no other than... CLIFFORD, the Big Red Dog. Erin took in one of her plastic eggs to give to Clifford. I saw her open the egg while she was waiting for her turn to talk to him, look at the Hershey kiss, close it up, and then temptation took over and she opened it up again and chomped down the candy...oh well, Clifford, maybe next time...
Easter day I cooked and ate alternately all day long! We went to church, had a turkey dinner at Joy and Rods, and Erin, Lakai and Cree had an egg hunt in the back yard. Then we went to Jer's and I took the Ham dinner and discovered the Easter bunny had been there too...Erin had sooo much fun, and has enough candy to last til next Easter, and I didn't even buy any! Tori was sick and didn't join us...We've all had a flu bug in the last few weeks.

Crazy Spring Weather

Derek came through on his way to Barstow, Ca.where he'll be stationed for a while...At least it is close enough for some weekend visits.
Erin gave her first talk in Primary today. She memorized about 6 lines of a poem about families and I coached her through the rest of it. We practiced it a LOT on Saturday, and had picture cues to help her. She was really cute, even let me put pigtails in her hair. She got about 2/3 of the way through and stopped, looked at me and said loud and clear "Grammie I really want to say my own stuff!" I sort of choked and whispered "lets just finish the poem", and she did, but it will probably be the last time she lets me help her. There was a lot of muffled laughter from the adults, and afterwards every one of the teachers said that what they really wanted to hear was Erin's "own stuff".

Breakfast with Derek

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Fall '08

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Barn Dance

Erin loved dressing up to have her picture taken at the Barn Dance activity today at the church.

She brought her own horse, and of course rode him up and down the stairs to the stage which was no small feat. There were some old fashion games and dances, she did really well at a modern version of washer toss. A little boy who was playing with her walked up and put the washers in the 3 point hole, but she just stood behind the line and threw them...she doesn't get competing at all but she sure has fun! We also attended Abbie O'Dwyer's wedding reception and I took some pictures to post, but then discovered that the memory card was in the computer at home....AAARGH!...I'll try to get some pictures from Myra this week. Yesterday was really cold and windy but today is probably in the 60's and sunny and warm.

St Mary's is giving forced extra time off ...24 hours per person in March so I have tomorrow off and 3 more days this month as I will take an extra day for someone who doesn't have any vacation hours to use. It is nice for this month, but everyone is getting really nervous about all the job layoffs in Grand Jct.

Cracker Cookies

This is the next recipe I always seem to be looking for and a favorite right up there with rice krispie treats because it is so easy and it tastes like a toffee candy. I don't make this recipe unless I plan on giving most of it away because I can't stop eating them! (I use less chocolate chips than the recipe calls for).


Simply Delicious Cookies...Recipe from Penzey's Spice Co.


Place saltine crackers side by side to cover a rimmed, parchment paper lined baking sheet.
In a saucepan melt 1 ½ sticks butter with ½ cup sugar. Pour evenly over the saltines.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle on 2 c chocolate chips. Return to the oven for a minute or so to get the chips to stick to the saltines.
Refrigerate for two hours then cut or break into pieces.

Car wash...Not!

I am putting this picture in for Teresa, who really understands what it is like to travel with me...
After the drive straight through blast from Jct to Branson, it seemed like a good idea to wash the truck. We found a drive through car wash that was open on Sunday..so far so good. Put in the money, remembered to roll up all the windows, drove right in. Rinse, scrub, Spray the car with lots of soapy water, and then...silence...not so good. Long story short, the power went down in the section of town we were in. Wait, Wait, Wait...drive out very soapy, many old ladies laughing in truck, but still soap covered. Get coupon for free car wash...that helps a lot. Drive around for half an hour finding car washes that have power but are closed on Sundays. Finally find place to rinse soap off of car. Continue on with tour of Branson and show ticket buying.


I found this reciped for Baggie Fudge on Teresa's blog..I am going to try it tomorrow night with my Activity Day girls group...Matt you should try this with your classes...Cooking is fun and takes a lot of talking in English. I am putting the recipe here so I can find it when I need it!
In a zip lock sandwich bag put 1/4 oz cream cheese, 2 tsp butter, 1 tsp cocoa powder and 1/3 cup powdered sugar. Seal bag and mash until it turns into fudge.

Easy Drive through car wash, Right?

what's new (relatively)

Derek is back in Boulder after 2 years in Okinawa and the last 4 days visiting Matt and Sun Ju in Korea...Welcome Home!
Tori has a likely but tentative wedding date of the last Saturday in June because Matt and Sun Ju will be here and it is her first opportunity for some vacation time. Jer started a new job today and Matt's second job just ended. The exchange rate of Korean Won for Us dollars has really dropped, so we wil hope it gets better before he is ready to travel back to the states.
I hope Matt or Derek will send some pictures so I can post them... and also get a picture of Tori and Mondo. Eventually I will figure out how to add people who can add some pictures and info on their own. I'd like to get a collection here of favorite photos and other stuff to share. and will probably have some old stuff until I get caught up. Incidently...Branson would be a really fun and not too expensive place to have a Family Reunion! Diane says it is sort of cross between and Las Vegas and Church camp...and it really is.

The ladies at the Buzzard Bar

Road Trip

In November I had the privilege of travelling to Branson with 3 women that I work with.
The trip started with the Schnauzer travelling companion getting sprayed by a skunk minutes before Diane (who owns both Isabella the dog and the house in Branson ) was ready to get in the car to pick up the rest of us. Cheryl, first to be picked up, armed herself with a spray bottle of Febreeze which she sprayed with abandon to keep us and the car as odor free as possible. I laughed for most of the week! A lot of odd things always happen when I travel, and I seemed to be in good company We saw LOTS of shows, did some shopping..(lots of outlet malls), spent a day at Silver dollar City, and really loved staying at Diane's. Her back yard is full of trees and ends at Table Rock Lake . It was too cold to swim or boat but warm enough to lounge outside. We are as different as 4 women can be and didn't really know what to expect, but we couldn't have had more fun. Favorites: the Micky Gilly show, the Andy Williams show, The Buzzard Bar...with a great comedian and country singer who actually is from Fruita. I guess it was all favorites, especially being away from work for a week and just enjoying friends.

Ready to Ride!

Erin spent the afternoon outside playing and now is really riding her tricycle...she is SOO pleased to be riding with the "big" kids...now comes the challenge of keeping her out of the street when she is at my house. Now maybe she won't be so afraid of the two wheeler she got for Christmas...just last week she told me she needed to call Santa Clause and tell him to come and get the bike he left her and take it back to the North Pole.

Getting Started

Ok, I've created a blog site...so now what? I decided I needed a place where we could post some family news and pictures and maybe do a better job of keeping in touch. Now comes the BIG learning curve of how to add pictures etc. I can use the digital camera now and actually get the photos onto the computer, so now maybe we can all share some of the many pictures we take.