Camping

This weekend I got to enjoy one of my favorite pastimes for the first time in.....I can't even remember when! I went camping! Very few people I know these days really enjoy camping in a tent anymore so it is really hard to find someone to go with you. My husband has never done it and won't even try. But a friend of mine at work has been wanting to camp with someone as well and when her church group rented out a campsite she asked me to come. I jumped at the chance! When I was a child/teenager I spent every summer at my local girl scout camp. I had the best time and some of my fondest memories are from all those summers at camp. My friend always enjoyed camping too so off we went.

I planned most of the meals and we made sure to make some of them "cook on the fire" meals. We only stayed one night( both of us had to work late on Friday :-( ) but we made the most of it. We arrived in the morning to set up our tents. We did decide to make our lunch easy so we could enjoy the day and just had sandwiches. After lunch, we headed to the swimming area and enjoyed a nice swim. It was great! The remainder of the afternoon we chatted with others. Then it was time to get started on dinner because I made ground beef and veggies on the fire. Just like I learned in girl scouts, we cooked it on the coals and it turned out great! They had a kind of potluck dinner so we brought that and most everyone who tried it said they liked it. To end the night we of course had S'mores and good conversation.

This morning we woke up and I got right to making the fire because we were having biscuits cooked over the fire. You just wrap them on a stick and when they are done slide them off on put some butter inside - yum! We also had scrambled eggs and good camp coffee. I really enjoyed it! After breakfast everyone pretty much packed up to head home but it was a nice time.

Now if I can just find more people I know who like camping maybe I can do it more often!!

Sometimes generic is just not the same

I am back home and back to all the responsibilities that come with it. I have been running around getting things done all weekend. In my haste, I unfortunately cut my finger. Not bad, no need to be alarmed. However I realized something as I was putting on my bandage.....I didn't buy Bandaid brand and so far I have gone through numerous bandaids. I don't remember that happening when I buy Bandaid brand. Please know that I am not employed by Bandaid but I have to say there are some things that just can't be "generic" when you buy them. Right? I think I have things I can think of that I have to get the original or its just not the same. Here is a short list for entertainment:

Coke: Not to say I NEVER buy generic soda but boy can I tell the difference so really I prefer plain ole Coke

Quaker Chocolate Chunk Granola Bars: Again, I have bought Generic lots of times but I almost always wish I hadn't after I eat one. These days I stick to the brand name and spend more time enjoying my granoloa bar.

Tide: I used other brands of Detergent for years and then decided to try tide. Its really all I use now. I think part of it might be the way it smells!!

Aquafresh: This one is big to me. My teeth must be pretty sensitive because I think most other toothpastes are to strong and feel like they burn to much. I never feel that way with Aquafresh so its the only toothpaste in my cart.

I am sure there are a few more but that's all I can think of tonight. I really wish generic stuff was always the same because I am not fond of spending the extra money but hey somtimes you just gotta get what you like!!!

Party Success

So the 50th anniversary party was a success. There was good food, LOTS of family, an amazing video and a night that ended with fireworkds. Can't get much better than that! We even got the Cakes from Larry's House of Cakes - yum ! They were able to put a picture of my mom and dad right on the cake, check it out: Pretty cool!




Since there was so much family there me and my cousins take the opportunity to get our picture taken because we all have names beginning with K. Our parents got together and decided to do that, can you believe it? Anyway, We had a regular photo...:




But then there had to be a silly photo too, right?

As you can tell it was nothing but fun. It was a great celebration and it is always fun to get together with my family. I guess I am one of those rare individuals who really enjoys my family - immediate and extended. Sure they drive me crazy on occasion but for the most part it is all good!

Now the fun continues as I am still visiting with my parents and planning to head to Holiday World with my Niece and Nephew in a few days. I swear I am just as excited as a kid would be! I think it is safe to say I will never REALLY grow up

Party planning

It has been busy busy lately. I have traveled down to So Il to celebrate my parents 50th wedding anniversary. I honestly can't believe they have been together that long. I know it sounds cliche, but I swear I just remember them celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary not that long ago. Oh how time flies. At any rate we are having a pretty big gathering and family from afar of all made their way here. My brother, sister and I have been getting all the required preparations in order. Cake ordered, food purchased and the most time consuming has been going through old pics. that part has actually been kinda fun! We have been examining all the old photos to put together a "through the years" video of them. Boy you don't realize how nice it has been to have digital until you look through hundreds and hundreds of photos from the past. We have finally finished that task and might be ready to relax and just enjoy the party tomorrow. here is one of the nice photos I found of my parents in the not so distant past. This is at my Brothers Wedding in 1993:



We did actually get to enjoy ourselves a little bit amidst all the party planning and head over to giant city lodge for a hike and some yummy fried chicken. Here is a shot of me and my niece and nephew at the top of Fat Man's squeeze (no one actually made it through :-):

Now we are off for more family fun before the BIG party tomorrow. More to come soon!!

MJ

Sad times these last few days. I think it is only appropriate to spend the day listening to a phenomenal artists contribution. If you would like to join me check out:

Michael Jackson Radio

The Exercise Sickness

Doesn't this sound like a contradiction? Apparently not for me. This phenomenon has been happening to me for some time now. You see I have never been an ongoing exerciser. However, I do seem to come ang go with it over time. So a few months pass with no exercise and then I can't take it anymore and I need to start up again. The problem is EVERY time I re-start the program I get sick. I get this super fatigue, lung congestion, coughing sick thing. It is SOOOO frustrating when you are trying to do the right thing and this just stops you in your tracks. I thought maybe I was crazy, maybe when I got this it was just conincidence. But then I googled it and sure enough I found other people who have had the same thing happen. I AM NOT CRAZY! That made me happy. So the question of course is what to do to fix it?...... From what I read you need to take vitamins when just starting out (which I never do) Get more rest than before (which has not been happening) and eat super healthy(uhhh, well that hasn't been quite what it should either) Soooo I am hoping that maybe by tomorrow I will feel like myself again and I can try all the the things suggested and keep this from happening again.

Of course the simplest way to keep it from happening might be to just keep exercising for the rest of my life.....what a concept!

Sun finally comes

When the weekend began around 5:30 or so on Friday, it didn't look so good to me. Rain in the forecast, waaaay to much work to have done before Monday comes and no specific plans. But.....thankfully things did turn around. I didn't do to much on Friday, just surfed the net and watched whatever movies were on TV. Saturday it was coldish and rainy and really I had no interest in doing much at all. I figured with it being so yucky out I would take the time get a few work items done. I am glad I got it over with because around 2:00pm the sun finally came out and then the weather was great! The perfect temp. Hubby and I decided to BBQ and eat our dinner outside. We had grilled shrimp and vegetables and I also made my new favorite salad - Feta cheese, walnut, cranberry lettuce salad with a balsamic vinagrette dressing - yum! I even made an old girl scout favorite desert - Banana Boats! This is really just a Banana with the peel left on you cut down the center of the banana long ways then stuff it with marshmellows and chocolate chips. Then you wrap it in foil and put it on the grill (or fire coals work too!) Once the banana is all charred looking it is ready! It is really yummy!


On Sunday I was out the door by 9:00am and off to a local forest preserve for a good walk. I think I made it almost 3 miles. I am trying to even run a little, but I have a ways to go before I can handle much of that yet. One thing I have to say about the Chicago suburbs is they have a TON of forest preserves. It is like little nature oasis's stuck amoung all the traffic and hustle and bustle nearby. I went to the one of the Dupage County Forest Preserves but each county has many of their own. After the walk I even went to the Gym to use the weights. I definitely got my workout in today! Since I did so much and the day was so nice out, I figured laying by the pool sounded good. Hubby joined me for this. He swam for a while and then we soaked up the sun. Our gym is so nice it felt like we were on vacation for a minute. Lastly, I made it into the hot-tub before a shower and we were off to Kohls. Both of us really needed a new pillow and Kohls had them on sale so we found just the right ones at the right price.

Now I have been enjoying just relaxing in front of the TV and just finished watching the season opener of Trueblood! Its not for everyone but boy I like vampire shows so I can't miss it.

I am hoping the coming week will provide some more sunny days because there are a few more forest preserves I would like to check out. Fingers crossed!