Your P.A.L. Kat

So, yeah, heather, my love, and i went to see Dan in Real Life last friday night!

All I have to say is….I loved it! It was so warm, funny, light, and cheery…but had so much depth to it too…I love movies like this…Jon loved it, which in my eyes, means it must have been good…i really try to listen to him and his movie opinions and critiques on whether or not something will be worth watching…i don’t always listen, but i am learning to…he is such a great judge of movies…really! well, at least i think so…and not just cuz he is my husband and im suppose to say that…i trust him in so many ways, and this is one simple way…the boy knows how to judge a movie…and he loved this one…here were jons comments about it…

FINALLY, GOOD MOVIES ARE STILL BEING MADE

Saw Dan In Real Life with the KitKat & Hegadaber (thats right sis, I pulled that one out) and was joyfully relieved to discover it was a great film with a beautiful story, characters I fell in love with a soundtrack I had to get the next day (Sondre Lerche, check him out). Peter Hedges needs to pick up the pace and give us some more movies, two just aint cutting it for me now.

anyway, it doesnt take much to amuse or please me, and this one really hit the spot with my heart…ask jon and heather, i was crying pretty much the whole time…i know i know, im a sap! what can i say? jon calls me his weepy wife…

if you havent seen this movie yet….first of all, WHY the hell not….but if you havent, um , GO…you will not be dissapointed!

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It’s Halloween today, Yeah!!!!

I love this time of year, did I ever mention that?  Well, anyway, here is a few pictures showing our Halloween spirit, us from last years trunk or treat and our pumpkins last year and then us last night carving pumpkins…it was so much fun…i do it every year…it’s a tradition!  We watched a semi-scary movie, The Sixth Sense…Summer and heather came over too to carve with us…Heather has never carved a pumpkin before she said…i think that is crazy…i couldnt imagine halloween without a pumkin carving event that went along with it…anyway, im so glad she got to experience it with us…it will defiantely be something we do at our house every year…Jon and I have som much fun doing it…and i always roast the pumkin seeds, yummy! anyway, here are some pics…BOOOOO!

Jon and I last year as the NEWLYDEADS!!!!

Our pumpkin carvings last year…mine is on the left, jons is on the right!

Me scooping out the goop last night at our carving festivities!

More carving fun!

My almost finished Mickey jack-o-lantern!

 Isn’t Mickey cute?

 Jon’s Oogie Boogie!

 Our Finished Products!

Oooh, glowing fun…go to Jon’s site to see all of the pumpkins we carved last night…

Jon carved an itty bitty one too that heather brought over…it is so cute…anyway,

HAPPY HAUNTINGS today everyone!!!!

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so, as far as we know, my parents home has been spared this terrible disaster that has left so many without a home…they are truly lucky and blessed…they are home safe…doing well, but wont be able to go up the hill for at least another few days…they allowed people from lake arrowhead and arrowbear, blue jay, and some other places back up the hill…folks from running springs cannot yet go back up becuz of too many exposed gas and electric lines still…the authorities are working on this though, and i t shouldnt be too much longer…fore is 75% contained, so thats great!

my folks are tired, but they are so happy to be home, and so is all of the family…thanks for the prayers!

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So jon and i decided to um, clean today…big surprise huh, me, cleaning?

anyway, we did the laundry, hung on the line of course, cleaned the bathrooms, even toilets, vacuumed, dusted (one thing i hate), and last but not least, the chore that literally almost broke my back, we cleaned up the backyard…man oh man…well, since the crazy fires and winds last weekend, our backyard looked like a tornado hit…and the pool was so disgusting…full of leaves, dirt, palm tree seeds, and other things…the pool guy came friday and it looks so much better…but all that stuff that was in the pool also covered every inch of the rest of the yard…i would say probably like 3, 4, or 5 gallons of palm tree seeds sucked up by our shop vac and swept up by the mega broom and cleaned off with a hose…oh my word, MY BACK ACHES!  im getting old…i can barely move right now…

but, alas, our back yard looks um, presentable?  well, it looks a thousand times better… lets just say that!

we are such a great team!  i know the last thing anyone WANTS to do, is yard work, especially me, but we sucked it up, ha ha, literally, and on top of that, have clean clothes, sheets, carpets, and toilets…my hubby is such a hard worker…i appreciate his willingness to step it up!  sorry, no pics of the ugly mess our yard was…i barely went outside all week cuz of the air quality…this week was reason enough to get the hell outta here…one day, not today though!

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 Okay, so I am literally so excited…excited, excited, excited…DAN IN REAL LIFE came out today…why do i want to see this movie so terrbily?  I will give you two reasons…

1. um, I LOVE STEVE CARELL…he is on the BEST SHOW on T.V.  THE OFFICE!!!! 

(click above and watch an episode if you have never seen one, which would be really sad)

and….

2.  DANE COOK is in it!  (jon always teases me and says if dane ever asked me to marry him, I WOULD!)  i freakin’ love dane cook…i owe this admiration to a frind in P.A. who introduced me to him a few years back…Holy Moly…he is hilarious and just, well, AWESOME!

heres the trailer for the movie…hooray!!!!!

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so, as far as my family can pull togather with all the info in the news and online, my parents house seems to be untouched…with the direction of the fires currently, it is the oppostite direction of their home…yet we still will not know anything for sure until they are allowed back up there…but now the word is that the fires are spreading northeast and if the winds cooperate, it will be easeier to deal with…if not, it could turn and go towards big bear…please continue to pray for this tragedy…

look online at the local red cross, humane society, and places where people are being sheltered to see if you can volunteer or donate anything…

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This recipe is for Ian…

Chunky Turkey Chili

1 pound ground turkey
1/2 cup coarsely chopped onion
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes with juice
1 can (16 ounces) pinto or kidney beans, or both, drained, rinsed 1/2 cup salsa, your favorite(I make my own from patti’s recipe)
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 cup brown sugar(optional, i added this to the original recipe)

1/2-1 cup of ketchup (optional, but i use it for more flavor)

hot sauce for taste (optional, if you like spicy or not)

crushed red peppers for taste (optional, if you like spicy or not)

1 can corn (optional…i added it last time i made it)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar or Mexican blend cheese
sour cream
1 to 2 tablespoons sliced black olives
In a large skillet over medium heat, brown ground turkey and onion. Drain off excess fat. Transfer browned mixture to the crockpot with tomatoes, beans, salsa, corn, chili powder, ketchup, brown sugar, hot sauce, and cumin. Stir gently to blend ingredients. Cover and cook on LOW setting for 5 to 6 hours or oon high for 2-3 hours.  Taste and season with salt and pepper. hot sauce, brown sugar, and hot sauce after a while to get the flavor you want.  Serve with a dollop of sour cream and a little shredded cheese and black olive slices.
Serves 4.

*corn bread is a great companion to this yummy dish

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well, my week has been full of stress worrying about all the people of this firestorm disaster…my parents are not home yet, and wont be til friday…will their house be standing when they return home? no one knows, but i still stay “cautiously optimistic”(go this phrase from my cousiy and aunt)…

other than worry, i havent worked all week or gone to school…so i had lots of time to pray and process life…really having the chance to slow down, which i so do not do enough…i am always doing something around the house, like now, im blogging instead of just sitting and watching the movie my husband and sister in law are watching (Little Shop of Horrors)…great movie…but i have been home during the day and have really not done alot, which is not normal for me…i neeeeed to always find something to occupy myself…at least that’s how i appear to my husband…i dont like this about myself…so the last few days i have done something i needed to do for a while, like confront some members of my family about my relationships with them, which was hard for me…i truly cherish my family, although i feel sometimes they could care less if i were alive or not…i so want to be involved in their lives, but it seems like since i changed my life around like 3 1/2 years ago, im not “like them” anymore…it makes me so sad and my heart breaks for healing that seems will never happen…this is where i am reminded by my husband that sometimes we are persecuted for our righteousness…and this gives me an opportunity to have more trust in God…its a choice though, this life i am striving to live…i get the chance to choose every day to live my life in Gods will, and this is not always easy…i know you all agree…and when the choices i have made and continue to make daily continue to widen this gap i feel in my heart with people in my family, i am at a loss…i dont know what to do…i would do anything for any one person in my family…i love them with all my heart, even tho i may not live their lives, i still support, love, and pray things could change…for now, it will have to be enough that i know i can trust that GOD knows what he is doing…right?

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So, officially, my parents neck of the woods is up in flames…they live in Running Springs…its been up in smoke since last night…over 100 homes lost in Running Springs…its tragic, but thank God my parents and other family from up there are safe…this incident is so devastating…and although its not directly affecting Riverside, I urge you to look at the news on tv or online and see the devastation to our state…its pretty sad…im in knots over it…yes, i know its just homes and stuff…thats not why im sad…im sad because as i drive around riverside, i am noticing people who don’t even know what is happening, right here!!!!  this saddens me because it shows how disconnected we really are…i feel for all the families, elderly, and hospital patients that have been evacuated…there is this question lurking…”what’s going to happen?”  we don’t know…but i am in constant prayer for the 300,000 plus people this has affected in our surrounding areas…the good thing is that there are no worries over lost lives…places and homes are replaceable, people are not…

anyway, just an update…

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so, any of you seen that new stupid old navy commercial about sweaters…well, there is this really awesome artist who i always hear on it and i got jon to download some of her stuff…by the way, you can hear her on Greys Anatomy too, another AWESOME show i watch…anyway Ingrid ROCKS…she is soothing, melodic, simple, and meaningful…and she is so cute too…this video is her singing that song…tell me shes not just your average girl with a kick ass voice and way cool glasses…

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