garage sale time!

Thurs. Aug. 8^th from 12-5 & Fri. Aug. 9 from 8-4

400 Plumage Ct. in Normal

Multi-family sale & great prices…Help bring our daughter from Uganda home!

NO early sales

**part of the Pheasant Ridge annual subdivision garage sales with over 30+ homes participating!!  Itemized handouts will be available.

Little Tykes house (bring your truck as roof is securely attached), car seat, PB kids art easel

great fall/winter clothes kid’s clothes--clean & lightly used brands including Children’s Place, GAP, Old Navy, Polo, Justice; girls sizes 2T-4T and 7/8-9/10; boy’s 3T-4T and 5/6-7/8

lovely fall/winter adult clothes- GAP, Loft, JCrew, Banana Republic-dresses, men’s suits (38R & 30/32pant), shirts, coats, purses, scarves: men’s & women’s sizes M-L

kids books, puzzles & toys

lots of misc. household including: décor, lamps, candles, picture frames, small kitchen electronics, Christmas décor, crystal punch bowl, black-iron baking rack, bowls, DVD player, 2 blue double cordless honeycomb blinds & one tan-all 3 Smith & Noble brand & each measure 31 X 56; one light green cordless blind-measures 61 X 50 (all blinds include manual & hardware), garden pots, CD collection

the baker's rack

Little Tykes house-back view

 Little Tykes house-front view

Pottery Barn kid's easel-front

PB kid's easel-back

garage sale time...again!

Since we had such great success last Spring, some friends/family and I decided to give it another shot...pictures will be coming but mark your calendars as this is the annual Pheasant Ridge subdivision garage sales!

Thurs. Aug. 8^th from 12-5 & Fri. Aug. 9 from 8-4

400 Plumage Ct. in Normal

Multi-family sale & great prices…Help bring our daughter from Uganda home!

NO early sales

Little Tykes house, car seat, PB kids art easel

great fall/winter clothes kid’s clothes--clean & lightly used brands including Children’s Place, GAP, Old Navy, Polo, Justice; girls sizes 2T-4T and 7/8-9/10; boy’s 3T-4T and 5/6-7/8

lovely fall/winter adult clothes- GAP, Loft, JCrew, Banana Republic-dresses, men’s suits (38R & 30/32pant), shirts, coats, purses, scarves: men’s & women’s sizes M-L

kids books, puzzles & toys

lots of misc. household including: décor, lamps, candles, picture frames, small kitchen electronics, Christmas décor, crystal punch bowl, black-iron baking rack, bowls, lamps, DVD player, 2 blue double cordless honeycomb blinds & one tan-all 3 Smith & Noble brand & each measure 31 X 56; one light green cordless blind-measures 61 X 50 (all blinds include manual & hardware), garden pots, CD collection

garage sale ~ pictures!

Okay, my garage is FULL!

Great items including but not limited to
kids clothes (boys & girls), toys, shoes, clothes, shoes, books, puzzles, did I mention shoes?!?!
adult clothes: men's suits, ties, dress shirts, t-shirts, sweaters, purses, scarves, dresses, jackets, maternity clothes
kid's bed rail, child gate, toys, toys & more toys; crib sheets/quilt/bumper pad set (zoo animals)
jogging stroller, double side-by-side stroller
Sesame Street tool bench with tools, Barbie Princess House with dolls, Duplo Bob the Builder Lego set, Step2 sandbox & two ride-on toys
household items: lights, hardware (knobs), window treatments, decor, pictures, etc.

Stop on by...there's something for everyone!

400 Plumage Ct. in Normal

Hours ~ Thurs. 4/25 2-7pm & Fri. 4/26 9-4

garage sale time!

Thursday [4/25] & Friday [4/26]

My house: 400 Plumage Ct.
Hours: Thurs. 2-7pm; Fri. 9-4
Items

Sunsetter 10 X 13 motorized retractable awning; girls clothes 12mo-5T; boy’s infant-4T; lovely adult clothes- GAP, Loft, JCrew, BR-dresses, suits, shirts, coats, ties, purses: men’s S-L & women’s XS-L; Step2 sandbox; Radio Flyer tricycle; double stroller; jogging stroller; maternity clothes; Barbie Princess house, princess décor, Sesame Street tool bench; baby gear; kids books, puzzles & toys; lots of misc. household; CD collection---mulit-family sale & great prices!  Help bring our daughter from Uganda home!

Neighbor's house: 301 Plumage Ct.

Hours: Thurs. 4-7pm; Fri. 9-4

Items

Girl's clothes: 3T-6; Boy's clothes 6-8; Kid's electronics: game boys, leapsters, & games; canoe book shelf; set of golf clubs; 2 twin beds, frames & headboards; misc. 

responsibility

New year...new goals, right?  Well, I had come across this great find at a garage sale last summer (yes mother, I know you're not shocked), and thought I would see how Haven would respond to getting small rewards (family movie night, date with Daddy, $1.00 toy at Target, McDonald's ice cream, new book, etc) for either working on specific tasks or working on things that 3 year olds struggle with...lately she has reverted to the "untrained" status regarding potty training with #2 and thus her laziness is frustrating...I've tried taking things away from her (Sunday School because obviously they don't want a 3 year old in there who isn't reliably potty-trained) but rewards seem to motivate her better.  She is a smart little cookie but for some reason, is lazily relapsing with her toilet skills.  So we work on things like "no whining", setting the table, clean up room, "be nice" (she likes that one), no accidents with the potty, and doing a Pre-K activity (coloring, puzzles, workbooks, cutting, gluing, arts & crafts, etc).

I'm curious to know if this has worked for any of you, ideas for rewards/results, etc...let me know your thoughts!

Friday's Funny-the humble truth

 Doesn't the above recipe look yummy?! 

And it was easy...basically saute mushrooms, spinach, garlic & onion together in olive oil, layer amongst ricotta cheese/mozzarella cheese blend & lasagna noodles & set your slow cooker on LOW for 4-5 hours.

Now before I show you what DID actually come out, I must preface this next picture with the following:
My Mom and I decided to switch slow cookers...she needed something smaller & I wanted something bigger.  Her's was a bit older & thus had temperatures on the dial vs. mine which had simply WARM, LOW, and HIGH as options...

"hmm...you still should be able to figure that out, katie?"...well yes, I should have...I assumed low was around 200 degrees [500-600 was max temp]...

However, the below is what I came home to after being gone for about 4-5 hours at Bible study & running errands...as soon as I walked in the house, my nose knew something was amiss!

UGH!!! A perfectly good slow-cooker meal down the drain!  It actually took me most of the night to get the stainless steel pan free of caked on lasagna noodles...for reference, steam boiling on the stove top for several tries removes just about anything...oh, along with baking soda!

My Mom's wise words..."well, ya know they make those slow cooker liners you can just place in"...thank you Captain Obvious/Late!

Will I try it again?  Oh, probably...what's not to lose now that I've swallowed my pride & placed my humility online for all to see!!!

I caved....

Well, my dear blog readers...after eluding the enormous world that facebook has become, I finally caved and set up my account yesterday (sigh)...I'm excited yet apprehensive...what if no one wants to be my friend?  What if no one cares?  What if I won't like it? (sigh, sigh)

and then I remember...I probably won't post my minute by minute days but I will post lots of pictures and use my facebook account as a way to extend my blog...

and if I'm really honest with myself...I'll probably really like facebook because I like to think I'm "in the know" :)

For those of you wondering why it's taken this long for me to have an account...well, when my husband and I were both public school teachers, we just didn't want one...we didn't want to know what our student's were doing every weekend...ergh!  But now, since we are both out of education for the time being...here I come facebook world! 

PS-will you be my friend?  (hee-hee :)

7 Random Facts

So my friend Rebekah has tagged me...instead of tagging others, I'm going to list my 7 random facts & if this breaks up the entire "tagging" system, I'm sorry; but I have never been a fan of chains, forwards, etc...

1. I student taught in New Zealand for 2 months while finishing up my history degree at Iowa State University. It was an experience of a lifetime! I taught in Des Moines, IA, for 2 months & then headed to my second placement Down Under. ISU (uh-huh...the "real ISU") has an international student teaching program where prospectvie student teachers apply, interview & hopefully get accepted...I was fortunate enough to be selected & get my first country choice! Highlight of my trip, you ask? Well besides a stopover in Sydney, Australia, meeting some amazing Kiwi's, seeing some of God's most beautiful creation, I went SKYDIVING! Yep, 12,000 ft tandom! My mother's first reaction when I relayed my exciting news via telephone..."you spend your money on the dumbest things!"

2. Due to my 2 years as a gymnast during my 4th-5th grade year(s), I can still do a roundoff-backhandspring; I'm no Holly Plattner, and I've definitely lost quite a bit of talent, yet that is one skill I hope to keep!

3. One of my favorite things in the world to do is SLEEP! In fact, nothing sounds postively more cozy on a cool fall morning (or winter or spring or summer) than to stay in bed! My husband is for sure if children ever come into our lives HE will be their night time parent as I am VERY dead to the world once asleep...Arlan's favorite thing to do is on a rare weekend morning or holiday off of school is to ask "What time should we set the alarm for?"...to which I exuburantly cheer "No alarm!" :) It usually makes him smile.
Sidenote, "sleeping in" at our house is usually around 6:30am-7:00am...I'll let you guess what time we normally wake up!

4. My favorite kind of history to study or read about is the American Revolution. Being a history teacher and getting asked this question fairly freqently, it still stirs my heart to think of our country's birth & how many liberities & rights we daily take for granted that were fought for during 1775-1781 and many years/time since. Books on John Adams, George Washington, and society are my favorite.

5. 38...the number of first cousins I have on the Kellenberger side of my family...my Dad has 11 siblings, so yeah, the math is exponential! To add to that math madness my Dad's mom is from a family of 13 children...the second cousin statistic...well, I'm not going to start!

6. If I ever go back to school for another degree it will probably be for a math minor...in the last 5 years I have renewed a love for Math unlike I knew I possessed.

7. 35-40 minutes...the average amount of time it takes to straighten my natural curly hair. While many women spend big bucks to get curls, I spend big minutes to get mine straight...in fact, as soon as I use my straightner on my locks, it instantly knows it is not in its most natural state. My hair was so tight-locked with curls that soon after I was born my Doorneweerd aunts were so sure I was not my parent's daughter as I looked almost looked like a different ethnicity with such tight curls!

Woe is Kate

So I once again find myself "under the weather"...whether it is actually the change in weather or just our crazy schedule's or crazy teenage germs, I have another cold. By about 4th hour (11:25am - 12:20pm) my body begins to ache & I can hardly breathe. Today during lunch, Arlan had a "great" solution - if I take a Benadryl, my nose won't run very much & I'll feel better. Well, I did feel better by approx. 1:00pm, but by about 1:30pm, I was getting very sleepy, inpatient (not good for a teacher with one more period of the day), and very lethargic. It was a true miracle we made it home...just in time for me to hit the couch in a stupor. Sleep, juice, sleep, hot tea...the cycle continues...ugh!

Ready or Not...

...here we go! So one week after school has started, Arlan and I find ourselves wondering what happened to our wonderful summer months :) Now most of you are thinking, "hey, join the real world! We work year round...". To which we answer, "yes, we know; but we need to have teenage energy, drama, and emotion 8 hours a day"...and my, how the emotions have started! (stay tuned for stories of these emotions) Not only have we begun going to bed early (like 9 pm), eating dinner at like 5 pm, but we also find ourselves loving our rare evenings at home. Especially since I find myself with my annual "welcome-back to school" sinus infection...so this weekend has been mostly laying around, sleeping, blowing my nose, drinking tea, grading papers, blowing my nose, etc. Yep, for Mr. & Mrs. Miller...school has started!