Blizzard 2009 Kansas City

Diet Pepsi.....check
IOU for Christmas Present for Mark....check
Laundry Caught up and House Clean....check
Car parked in Garage....check
Facebook updated!....check
Grocery Shopping done....check
Honeybaked Ham purchased....check....... Okay.... let it snow!

I guess Kansas City has not had a Blizzard since 1982. That's a long time to wait for a storm like this! Since we have no place to go and no where we have to be, I say let it snow! The most annoying part is listening to the little ice pellets hit the windows, but that won't last long. If we are in for a true blizzard, it will start to snow and not stop for hours and the winds will blow everything around and make it so we don't have to shovel the sidewalks. Let's hope for that!

I have nothing very profound to show you tonight, but I do want to let you in on a little preparedness secret. If the weather calls for dangerous conditions such as a blizzard or a tornadic storm... it's important to realize that the electricity could easily be knocked out. Here are some steps you need to take to make sure that you are prepared for the weather.

• Consistently work on getting your 72 hour emergency kit assembled. Know where it is located and make sure that it has season appropriate supplies. Warm DRY clothing, hand warmers, gloves, eye protection are very important for blizzard conditions.
• Do all your laundry BEFORE the storm hits. If you are without electricity, at least you have clean dry clothing, towels and extra blankets on hand. No need to stockpile 40 days worth of undies... if you have to go for a week, you will be fine.
• Make sure you have extra drinking water located in a place that it will not freeze. No electricity=no pumps. Sure, most gravity systems will still allow water to get to your house, but what if the City has a boil order? Are you going to use your precious fuels to boil water for drinking? Not just for a few days you aren't. Fill those 2 liter bottles ahead of time. DO NOT USE MILK JUGS!
• If you are waiting for damaging storms to arrive, take a shower and wash your hair. The very last thing you will want to do the next day without electricity is take a lukewarm bath and then start digging through your food storage to figure out what you can make out of wheat.
• Have a 3 day menu planned for occasions like this. Tomorrow is Christmas at the time I write this. We already have the ham and it is fully cooked, so no need to panic, we have fodder for sandwiches for a few days if needed. Meal ideas will follow, but it needs to be things that you and your family WILL eat without thinking twice. Comfort food would be good.
• Have a full tank of gas. Do not let any driver in your household return the car without a full tank of gas. Again, no electricity, no power for gas pumps... let alone a Debit Card to fill your tank.
• Have tools readily available... know where they are located. Damaging storms bring lots of surprises. You might need to help a neighbor. Things to consider: chainsaw with extra fuel, snow shovels, snow blowers with fuel, traction sand stored in a water tight container, have a couple LARGE tarps to cover roof. More than likely you will not need to have a 100x100ft tarp, but a couple 20 x 20 will come in handy.
  
• If you have room in a garage (perhaps stored above in the rafters) store 4-5 sheets of OSB board. This will help to board up shattered windows. Sure, there are plenty of storm chasing companies out there ready to patch up your house until the insurance adjuster gets there, but why suffer with a gaping hole in your bedroom?!

As usual, I have started out to make a short post, but now I have written a novel. I hope that each an everyone of you have a blessed day tomorrow. I know that Jesus is the Christ, I know that he is a Gift from God to come down, be born, teach us how to live, and then atone for OUR sins. I marvel at what a miracle his birth is. Mary must have pondered and thought about how tiny the very hands to God appeared. He, who measured the skies with those hands came to earth as a baby, born in a lowly manger.

Merry Christmas, and may you never go hungry, may you always be warm and may you always have the spirit of Christmas in your heart!!!

From My Heart 2 Yours,

Katie

Some new basics for you!

Recently, I have realized that I have a gift for saving money. The weird part of this realization is that I never thought of my gift as a gift, but rather a math game. Always keeping my eye open for a bargain, I have clipped coupons, watched sales, read blog after blog about what is on sale and where and when to use double coupons, etc.

Last Friday, Mark and I went to a chocolate party at the Lewis home... their home was just cute as can be with their new Christmas lights. While the guys played Beatles Rock Band, the girls hand dipped candies in chocolate and gabbed. One theme that always comes up is "Katie's Frugality." Don't get me wrong, I love shopping, I love looking around, I love browsing, I just never thought of it as a talent. So, with no further ado, I hope to occasionally share some of my secrets and my gems of wisdom about these things. I will try to tag these items with "Katie's Frugality" so that you can easily search for them. One post you might want to look at that is already on my blog is the post about Homemade Laundry soap. I still use it, I still love it, in fact... I have a jug of Tide in my laundry room that I haven't touched. I want to just give it away and get rid of the clutter, but the pack rat in me wants to keep it for a rainy day. The homemade laundry soap lover in me says that the Tide is truly inferior and would be better used to soap up a fountain or something. Hmmm... we shall have to wait and see what happens with that jug of Tide. :)

One of my favorite blogs to read is called "Safely Gathered In." The theme of the blog is Provident Living. Self Reliance is very important to me. Mark and I are working diligently to get out of debt and live within our means. We have followed all the suggestions regarding food storage, but now we need to learn how to use all that food and rotate it as part of our normal menus. Here is a link to the HOMEMADE PIZZA post on Safely Gathered In.
You can click on the Pizza Picture above to see the photo credits and get the delicious recipe! Please leave me some comments on what you would like to read articles about. I will either impart my tidbits of wisdom or point you to the people who do it better than I. Happy reading!

Heratige Album Layouts

This is the cover that I made with a few of the items provided in the kit. Layer the grey or black shape on the bottom, put the creme colored smaller shape on top. On top of that, adhere the die cut tree and the silhouette shapes. Notice that I have not centered this square... it is a little more to the left that you think it needs to be. On the right, adhere the antique lace and cover that lace with buttons, and other fun bits.

Below is the cover that I made for the sample book, it is the inspiration for the cover that is provided with the kit. I recommend that you use the sturdiest cardstock on your cover.

NOTE: ALL PAPERS WILL NEED TO BE TRIMMED TO MEASURE 6" Down by 5.75" Across. This allows room for the binding. Don't think that you will be able to punch holes in the whole album after the fact to fit the rings. Unless you have a drill press, the book will be too thick, even for the CropADile.

This is Katie's Sample book that everyone fell in love with. I used a lot of elements such as ink and distressing the edges of the papers and old buttons.

The flowers on this page are by PRIMA. I made the antiqued tags using Walnut Ink.

Please let me know if you have any questions about techniques, supplies, where to get something or how I did something. I am more than happy to share. Go ahead and post questions here on the blog so that I can answer for everyone to see. Thanks :) Katie

Bunco Bucket

My Aunt Susie is having a Bunco Party next week and she inquired about fun alternative packaging for gift cards. So I whipped up something special for her... this is an altered paint can. This one is done in a a Christmas Theme... check out the dice (for Bunco) and the Christmas balls on top :). When she gets this can, she will put the gift card or gift inside the can and pound the lid shut...remember, it's a paint can! Attached to the fluff at the top is the paint can opener. Ther recipient opens the can to reveal the gift.

Enjoy! Hope you have a Great Bunco Night, Aunt Sue!

For other paintcans that I have altered see here and here.

We Made it at Katie's

Missey, Michelle, Sephie and Michelle came over to do some scrappin. Missey and Michelle made their annual calendars. They spend HOURS AND HOURS making their own planners complete with tabs and binding. Each year, it seems they get better... better design, better ideas, better binding.


Michelle B worked on scrapbook pages of her kiddos, and guess what... she actually put together 3 pages. To me, that's amazing, because I usually spend all night discussing glue choices and paper selection and never get the project done. Here are some pictures of our fun evening. We had chili and brownines for snack!!!Woooot Woooo!

So, 2 nights in a row I hosted workshops :). What fun! The house stayed clean, the cats were well behaved and I got to enjoy time, quality time with my favorite people!

Christmas is coming, the Goose is getting Fat!

And final's week is next week, and life is good!!! It is finally getting cold here, not Montana cold, but I actually have to wear socks to stay warm, so there you go. I didn't post over Thanksgiving, although I should have. I am thankful for so many things and other than having Christmas decorations all over the house that need to be put away, I am pretty happy with life. Things will be better on Tuesday night when my Organic Chemistry final is over as well.

So, my blogger friends, I must say bye for right now, I'll post soon... I promise!