Beach Bum...mer (KIA)

Beach Bummer Blues....
But in a good way.

I should have spent more, I should have bought more. I should have gotten more blueberries from the Farmers Market. First of the Season Blueberries.

A Sensory treat for my pallette. Some were deliciously sweet and some were deliciously tart, but it was a surprise for my toungue. Even Ki ate some. He wants to make milkshakes with them next time.

Yesterday was grey, gloomy, overcast. and chilly. I never seem to watch the weather. I had been hoping to go to the beach. Today started out a beautiful day. Ki suggested we go to the beach today since it was nice and I didn't get to go yesterday. We went to Oso Flaco. I like is best, I think.

Due to the recent rain, the hills are such a bright green! it is lovely to drive anywhere. But I keep missing my exits.

The sand dunes are always awesome as they welcome us to the beaches!

We paid our Parking Priveledges and as I was getting out of the van, Ki closed the van door for me.... before I could snatch my bag out, with the keys. Yes, the doors were locked. Yes, we were outside of the van. Yes, my phone was in the bag, too. No, I don't even have anyone's number memorized for borrowing a cell phone. No, my husband isn't home from Ohio yet. Yes, I did have the skylight partially opened.

Ki found a stick, climbed the van, and tried to fish out my bag. Or maybe push the unlock button. The stick was too short and too flimsy.

Enter Beat-Up Orange Pick-Up. Exiting the pick-up was a young man, our To-Be Savior! He asked the Obvious; "Locked out?"

I answered to Obvious. "yes"

he asked if they inforce parking fees, he hadn't planned on coming, just decided to kill some time fishing in the lake.

I helped him with his first catch of the day:

I have NO IDEA what we would have done if he didn't come along with his last minute plans to go fishing!

After we got the van situation dealth with, Ki and I took off down the path to the beach. It takes about half an hour to actually get to the ocean.

We start with a walk down a wide path:

(I said something to Ki about his jeans.. he replies; "They Fit!" to which I say; "if your Huckleberry Finn!" the toe shoes make pants look even shorter, too)

At the end of this road there is a lake on either side. To the Righ is just a lake, it is pretty.

On the Left is a larger lake, with a board walk:

There are lots of water fowl. duscks, egrids, commorants, etc.

After the walk across the lake, we continue down the boardwalk through native plants. I always love this part of the walk, I love the colors in the native plnats. I like how they can look brown and dead and yet have a sprig of new and vibrant color.  I like the thick leaves and the feather flowers.

And there are plenty of lizards out sunning along the edges:

I got a couple pictures at the ocean... then my battery died. it was sad.

I spent the time laying on the sand with my eyes closed, listening to the roar of the ocean.  I could hear the waves crash from right to left up the shore.

Twofer / KIA[9&10]

Yes, it is a TWOFER post!
2 days for the post of ONE!
What a steal! Grab it while you can!!

When last you left the Dynamic Duo, it was day number 8 of their Adventures!

Days 9 and 10 ran by so quickly the Blogging part of the Dynamic Duo didn't get around to blogging of all their great and mighty adventures!

So, without further ado....

Thursday Day #9

Thursday found our Matriarch of the duo at the grocery store. Twice. Her SuperHero Transport needs a new kickstand so it can stand properly in the bike lock up at the stores.

Her zooming about allowed the 15 year old to make a wonderful treat! ( recipe )

But in her haste to secure great taste, she forgot about her volunteer position at the Animal Shelter.

The the Dynamic Due had some friends over for a visit and afterwards went to see a Movie: Hunger Games-- more on that later.....
there was barely time to pick up danny and get the boys to church, but she managed to delivery them in the nick of time.

She then had time to whip up a double batch of Rosemary-Garlic Pizza Crust. ( recipe )
Friday was another busy day for our Duo. But not as sun as Pretzels and Movies.. at least not the begining of the day.

Friday, Day #10, was filled with house cleaining and a double batch of plain pizza crust. And more cleaning. With a trip to a friends to buy some Enchilada Plates. MMMmmm!

Friday night was the enjoyable part of the day. A few good friends came over to help the Dynamic Duo eat yummy homemade pizzas and play games.

Some More Pictures: The younger half of the Duo fashioned a Fastener Chain for wall decor-->

If you missed why these 2 are on their own this month, you can go read the start of their Dynamic Journey HERE....

The Easy Life! (KIA[8])

Yes, I miss my husband. Yes, I miss my older boys.  But I talk to them and know they are safe and I will see them soon.

I say all that so you don't think too poorly of me when I annnounce how much I am loving this life! Just my 15 yr old and me. We wake when we want, I only need to do laundry once a week. I can get away with 2-3 bags of groceries for the WHOLE week! (and the whole bed to myself is pretty nice, too, especially sans my husbands Restess Leg Syndrome kicking)

AND BEST--- We have grab a spoon and eat half a watermelon for dinner!

Yesterday, Wednesday the our first day in WEEK 2 of being 'Us 2'
Week Two of Ki & I Adventures. (KIA)

The day started as they all do, laid back, reading, a little computer time,  he empties the trash, I wash a few dishes...
I have my protein shake. My stomach seems to do much better with just a llittle liquid protein as opposed to 'real food'. (more on that later)

A little later we drive out to the local animal shleter where Ki volunteers with the kitties. Dear, sweet, cuddly kitties.
Ki broke up 5 cat fights the first hour. Elvis the fluffy grey cat was in a bad mood. Stalking and fighting with all the other cats and when they weren't close enough to fight, he'd fight his reflection in the mirror.

Then Purrcey knocked a water bowl from a shelf onto the floor. We are not sure WHY the waterbowl was elevated like it was. It took a whole roll of paper towels to mop it up.

***************
After our fun with kitties, we read more, and just chilled at home....

(to read about previous days: click the following links:
* read prologue

Day 1 &Day 2 &Day 3 & Day 4& Day 5 & Day 6 & Day7)

Sleep Dust {KIA[7]}

We survived... 1 week & going strong...

weak/weak- strong...

get it... huh?

ya, never mind.

Anyway. the last 6 days of lots of running, being on our own, must have caught up with us. The only Adventure  Ki and I had wad an adventure in  books and naps.

Well, I did bike to the post office and take Ki to the Indian Restaurant for his Volunteer gig.

Sorry, that's all we have to offer today.

Oh, and I love the author Jasper Fforde! I may be up late finishing "One Of Our Thursdays Is Missing" tonight.

I want orange juice.

And I am in need of comments to boost my spirits, so leave 'em here -->

(to read about previous days: click the following links:
 * read prologue

 Day 1 &Day 2 &Day 3 & Day 4& Day 5 & Day 6)

KIA[6]

Me, Ki, and the Cat. It's a small family these days with 3 of our members away on a trip.

Ki and I are having Adventures. This little blog is about Day #6. Monday.

I like this little pace to our days we have going.
He made his breakfast, I made mine- whenver we wake up. He does his morning chores. I wash some dishes.

We read or play on the computer a bit, talk about lunch plans, go for a bike ride, do a little cleaning. I hung my laundry. WOWSERS, opur laundry and groceries are almost non-exsitent compared to when there are all 5 of here!

We do our own lunches, too. We clean up from lunch then I was on the phone making toomany phone calls while Ki went out back to make a fire in the wheelbarrow again.

He used this fire to warm the PVC pipe he was working with:

A little later he made a yummy treat for us. He toasted some almonds and then melted some chocolate with sea salt for a yummy bark snack:

I was on the phone more, read my book I styarted a long time ago and had to back track a few chapters, then Ki and I cleaned our bathrooms. It was his idea. Yesterday he said "We should clean our bathrooms on Monday." So we did.

After that we read in his Science book. We were reading about muscle types. Skeletal Muscles, Smooth Muscles, and Cardiac Muscles. I read from the book; "Cardiac Muscles is only found in one place in humans. Time Lords have Cardiac Muscles in 2 locations."

I Ad-Lib when I read to them. And, yes, I still use silly voices when reading to my high school age boys.  The section kept talking about our SUPERSTRUCTURE and I always said it like a super-hero with a deep voice speaking in a tunnel....

Ki helped me pick flowers to put in my vase then he got started making dinner. I ws going to make dinner myself, but I had told him my plan for dinner and he thought it ws fun, so he got to work on getting things ready. I was getting hungry I guess. So we both did our part to create tonight's dinner:

Compartment Cuisine -->

Ki arranged them around our centerpiece and asked what game I wanted to play. I chose Fluxx.

 Ki has his cake decorating class tonight. I'll post a picture in tomorrow's blog.

(to read about previous days: click the following links:

Day 1 and Day 2 and Day 3 and Day 4 and Day 5)

KIA[5]

Wow, has it been 5 days already?

Is it really Sunday? It feels like it should be Saturday. Except We ate pancakes for breakfast. And went to church.

Yes, Ki & I survived our No Chewing Adventures. 4 days of Protein shakes and Juicer umm, juices.

Things I learned:
1- Ki likes Blueberry. Not the actually berries, but like in a poptart or jam or even in a protein shake.
2- When I drink all my meals I forget to actually drink enough water.
3- Ki snacks mostly out of boredom. He didn't snack these past 4 days. as a snack of drinking just isn't appealing when you are already drinking all your meals.
4- Hmm, I guess I only learned those 3 things.

When I woke this morning around 6:30 Ki had a bowl of Chex Mix out on the table for us. The good kind with the rye bagel chips.

Oh, I think I missed salty/crunchy more than actual 'chewing'.

After popping a handful of salty crunchy delight into my mouth, Ki and I got to work on Breakfast. It had been decided that we would enjoy Pancake Buffet to herald ourselves back into the world of solid foods.
I chopped apples and coated them with cinnamon and put pecan pieces into a bowl. Oh, and miniature chocolate chips into a 3rd bowl. Ki mixed up the batter. We cheated and used a pancake mix.

I love pancakes with cinnamon apples and pecans!! Ki had 1 chocolate chip pancake and 1 pecan pancake. He also had a mini pancake with apple pieces, to try it. I had 2 apple & pecan pancakes. Our pancakes were small. I guess 'normal', but small compared to getting pancakes at IHOP or some other breakfast restaurant.

Yes, I know that pancakes after a 'juicer type fast' are NOT the best idea. But after we ate our 2 pancakes and were completely stuffed, we took a nap. Carb Coma. MMMmmmm!

So we ended up going to the 11:00 church service.

Ki and I cleaned out the van while listening to Mariachi Music being pipes through the air from the local fairground. Well something Mexican. It was kinda fun to listen to the 1st hour, but by 4PM we had enough!@!

Ki wanted to bend some PVPC pipe. He asked to use my oven as our firepit died (rusted out). I told him to just use the grill. Which would have been a brilliant idea had it not been for the fact that someone left the gas valve open and it was empty. So I told him to just use the wheelbarrow. He was kinda shocked. "Really??"

me: "sure, why not? It's not gonna burn a hole in it or anything."

Ki: "Our old firepit got the bottom burnt out, though..."

me: "oh, it'l be fine for 1 use."

So Ki built a fire in the wheelbarrow to warm the PVC pipe and bend it to shape.

HEY! there's my square white laundry basket! I was looking for that earlier!

** Now it is time to sautee veggies and make rice to bring to the Taco Buffet at our Gospel Community Gathering tonight.... **

(to read about previous days: click the following links:

Day 1 and Day 2 and Day 3  and Day 4)

KIA[4]

(to read about previous days click the following links:
Day 1 and  Day 2  and Day 3 )

Today, Ki went with me to Knitting Group. I had to drive him to Amtgard when done knitting, so it didn't make sense to drive there, home, there, home....

I had to take Ivan to the hospital today for his vision problem. They coulnd't fix him. He had to be terminated. But he will be reaplaced with a better Ivan. An Ivan with TWO working eyes. But I will be without Ivan the iPad for about a week or two. No more Netflix and Knitting while in my comfy bed.

Here is picture of  Ivan in his carrier..

here is Ki writing character descriptions for a game.

Ki and I are excited to eat solid foods tomorrow!! Today was the last day of No Chewing Challenge.

Ki & I did well. I think Ki may realize how ofter he snacks out of boredom. I was only hungry the first day really. By Friday I wasn't hungry between meals. I did notice that I drink a lot less water when I am drinking all my meals. But, I also was out of bubbly water. I drink less water when I don't have the bubbly stuff.

I think I actually miss preparing foods than eating them..LOL. I look forward to having Pancake Buffet with Ki tomorrow morning. We have pancake batter and bowls of add-in ingredients. and make our owb custom pancakes.

Fot lunch I will be making Turkey Chili Veggie Stew. But Ki will have The Blue Box Mac and Cheese.

KIA[3]

We have survived our first 3 days on our own!

(to read about days 1 & 2 click the following links: Day 1
and
Day 2


We had a relaxing day filled with computer time and knitting. Well, the knitting was just me.

We are maintaining our liquid diet. Tomorrow will be our last day, then it is back to solid foods on Sunday!!

We did some housecleaning and exercises. Ki challenged me to 40 walking lunges and I challenged him to 14 'Hip Drops'.

We played cards after dinner. I enjoyed a lovely gourmet dinner of juicer from my juicer. It contained a pear, 3/4 an apple, strawberries, blackberries, ginger, 2 small carrots, and ginger. Ki and I have enjoyed playing games after dinner.

Today we also went for a walk. It was chilly I told Ki to grab a jacket and he chose my paisley cloak. He also snagged my crocs for his feet, but I took them back. So he went sock-footed. with a cape.

**Connor asks for pictures of Socksey every day. Here is today's picture:

KIA[2]

 "Put the camera down, Grab onto the end there and pull really hard...... "
Ki needed help getting the 't' connector off of the PVC pipe.

He has some weapon planned.  Something that requires the use of the band saw, of course. I always cringe inside when they use that. I'm glad we are close to the ER.

Yes, one of our house rules is:
"Don't use the band saw before mom is awake and out of her bedroom in the morning"

There is nothing quite like be awaken at 6:30 AM but the sound of the band saw in the garage....


Ki and I Adventures: Day 2

 A quite morning nourished with fruit smoothies that have been infused with protein powder. I just added to the left over protein/fruit smoothie from yesterday.

Ki & I then spent 3.5 hours volunteering at the animal shelter. I answered the phone and made sure people signed in and used hand sanitizer. Ki folded and stuffed envelopes. He also got bags of food from out back to people coming in that feed strays. I had to stop 4 barefoot little boys from bringing a dog into the building. The oldest was carrying the youngest boy and the next to oldest was struggling to carry a black dog. 3 boys were barefoot, and 1 was walking around outside in socks. I doubt they spoke English. It was kinda sad- we had to turn down taking their puppy; which means those little boys have to tak their puppy to County Animal Services. CAS euthanizes. Hopefully those boys don't know that.

Ki & I drove through a HUGE puddle, splashing both sides of the van and coating the windshield in muddy puddle spray. This aways makes me laugh hysterically.

Then it was on to Home Depot and the Baby Bottle Clinic to drop of a bottle of coins.

I am glad it was a less busy day so I could take a nap.

Ki is at church youth group right now. I really should go clean the kitchen. I started to straighten the couch and found my lost knitting needle and that was the end of cleaning. I'm finally back to knitting the chroma scarf.

(Yes, we are still holding strong on our No Chewing Challenge... and we are planning a wonderful food-filled Sunday!!!- but no exercise today)

KIA

Ki & I Adventures

Ki & I dropped G&C off at the Santa Maria airport at 6:50 AM for their 3+ hour shuttle ride to the LAX airport. I woke at 5:10.

It went well.

Ki & I came home and rested. I dozed and watched a little Dr Who. He played on the computer.

Ki decided to start our "No Chewing Challenge" today. (there had been a little talk of starting Thursday.

After out resting Ki & I made fruit smoothie protein drinks for breakfast, cleaned a bunch, did some exercises. Ki announced today's number was 12. So we did 12 sit ups, 12 squats, 12 walking lunges, 12 push ups, 12 hip drops. We were going to bike ride 12 minutes but it keeps raining.

After lunch of chocolate protein drinks, we went to the animal shelter for volunteer orientation. Ki is volunteering with the cats on Wednesday mornings. I decided, last minute, to volunteer helping in the office on Thursdays because Bobbie mentioned she hoped there would be an office volunteer as they no longer had a worker Thursday mornings. None of the volunteers signed up for the office slot and I had been slightly debating it since Ki signed up last week.. so I took it as my clue to help in the office.

Ki & I finished cleaning and exercises when we got home.

Ki & I then drank a lovely dinner of Juicer concoction (and talked of yummy, chewing homemade preztels). Ki's was just GrannySmith Apples, so it wasn't really a concoction. Mine was; 2 carrots, a cucumber, plum, ginger, and strawberries.

Ki & I played card games while we drank our dinner.

Gavin and Connor were unable to call when they landed in Chicago for their layover because their flight was late and the basically ran from 1 plane to the next.. BUT they made it and didn't have to spend the night in Chicago on their own and are safe with Brian in Ohio.

Ki & I retired with chai lattes around 8:30. Ki to his LOL game and me to blogging and watching Netflix.

I'm back

I have such an "Off Again- On Again" relationship with blogging.

I decided I want to be more consistent about blogging; at least for the next few weeks.

So, you all have missed a lot in my absence. Let me tell ya....

The biggest news being that my older 2 boys are boarding an airplane today to fly to Ohio. For good. They will be living with my parents and, hopefully, getting summer jobs.
Brian's job transfers him there sometimes end of summer; at which point we will all be there as a whole family.

I had a week and half to prepare for this. That's about 8 days when the doctor and dentist offices are actually open to call about last minute plans and appointments. 1 and half weeks to get everything done at the last minute... The Last Beach Trip, The Last Amtgard, The Last Joint Computer Games in the same room, the last youth group get-together. I, being mom, was much more frantic about 'one more trip to the beach' and 'one more pizza with friends' than my boys were. They will thank me, though, one day... or not.

Brian has been working longer hours at the office, too.

With Gavin and Connor gone and Brian working longer hours, it is just Kiel and me all day. Hopefully he won't get too bored with me. Hopefully I won't turn him into a housewife with too much cleaning and gardening.

thankfully, Ki has his Amtgard where he can go and beat people with foam weapons and get beaten on my others with foam weapons, to keep him manly. or as manly as my 15 yr old needs to be.

Ki is already runing the place. He's decided we need to THOROUGHLY clean the house, starting with the kitchen. Ki the Task-Master.

Oh, not only does he have me cleaning he has me on  a diet. He decided we should take the No Chewing Challenge. So for the rest of the week we will be living on Protein Shakes and the Juicer.

And I know he has an exercise plan. His exercise plans usually involve way too many walking lunges.

I tink he just wants to wear me out so I forget to finish his math and science this school year.

Ki is taking a cake decorating class...
this is his cake from Monday's class -->

And here are some cupcakesn (League of Legends) he made to take to Amtgard for the going away party...

*** THE NEXT POSTS will be a Series of Ki & I Adventures- to journal these weeks that Ki and I are on our one. His first time as "An Only Child"...LOL So, continue reading to see if we survive with 60% of the family in Ohio.

(to read about Our days so far: click the following links:

Day 1 and Day 2 and Day 3  and Day 4)