Space Cadet

I'm the most absent minded person I know.

Last night, while I was in the shower, Chris asked for the toothpaste. I asked him why the toothpaste was in the shower, and he said "ask your self that question. Say Self, Why did I put the toothpaste in the shower?!"

I brushed my teeth in the morning and then went into the shower to grab the face soap to wash my face. I, absent mindedly, put the toothpaste in place of the soap. Face soap stayed on the counter, toothpaste stayed in the shower.

I'm also supposed to ask myself (according to my husband who remembers everything) why I put the milk in the pantry and my cell phone in the fridge.

I've just got too much on my mind...that's why, okay?!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Little Ditty

Our friends Jack and Roseann are getting married in April. Our other friends, Natalie and Jason (shown in the picture with us) are throwing them an engagement party the day after we get back from our snowboarding trip we're taking out West.

Nat came up with a super cute invite that reads:

Little ditty, about Jack and Roseann
Two Gainesville kids getting married,
in the heartland
Let's celebrate their engagement,
with some fun
We'll eat and party,
until the night is done!!

This was my RSVP back to her:

Little ditty, about Kara and Chris
2 American kids goin boarding in the heartland
Chris goin' be a big rock star
Kara's throwin powder -- then headin to the bar.

Suckin on some beers on the bottom of the slopes
Kara's sittin on Chris's lap, tryin to unfreeze
Chris say "Hey Kara, lets get back for the party"
Hop on the plane - tell the pilot to do what we please.

Say uh, oh yeah life goes on
Even if Chris and Kara can't come
Say uh, oh yeah life goes on
Kara and Chris are gonna try to make it. They drink on.

Chris sits back, collects his thoughts for the moment
Scratches his head and decides we need to be seen.
Well then there and Kara, gotta run off to the airplane
Kara says "Baby, we can't miss this thing"
Chris say uh,

Oh yeah life goes on
Even if Chris and Kara can't come
Oh yeah they say life goes on
Long after Chris and Kara have gone

Gonna let it rock, let it roll
Let the pilot come and save our goal
Wait for us as long as you can
Changes come around, and might delay our flight.

Oh yeah life goes on
Even if Chris and Kara can't come
Oh yeah, they say life goes on
Long after the thrill of the Harts has gone

Little ditty, about Kara and Chris
Two boarders doin' the best they can

-------------------------
Hey, at least I think I'm funny...even if no one else does!

Happy Friday! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

<3

Kara

The Adventures of Kara and Chris - Part 1

Theoretically, if you enter a wooded area that has a No Trespassing sign, and get a few miles in to see another No Trespassing sign to go a different direction, does that mean the initial way you entered the area was NOT no trespassing? I mean, if there's a No Trespassing sign in the middle of the woods, does that mean you weren't trespassing before, but you are now if you continue?!

Explanation...

Kodi jumped a fence and chased a deer (wink wink) into a no trespassing area of the woods. Naturally, Chris and I had to hop the fence to go get him. Since we were already there, we just kept going for a few miles. We came upon a 4 way split in the woods that had No Trespassing signs posted on 2 corners of the woods, but the path straight forward was good. Why in the world would you put up No Trespassing signs in a no trespassing area otherwise, right?

In my mind, that made us legit. Sort of.

We kept going and enjoying the outdoors when all of the sudden Chris yells "Truck, RUN, FOLLOW ME". He went running from our path straight into the woods like a bat out of hell. Naturally, Kodi and I followed him. Kodi wasn't on a leash, but he did a great job keeping up. Chris saw the truck on one of the side paths that we had just passed, and took off in the woods FOR that path. Direct bee-line TOWARDS where the truck was coming from.

His logic was that we were never going to out run a truck, but normal people don't run AT what you're trying to get away from, so they'd never suspect to find us there.

We are, obviously, not normal.

We ran for about 10 minutes through the woods as fast as we could and then when we thought we were pretty safe, we stopped to catch our breath. Our conversation went something like this:

Kara: Gasp Gasp "What the hell are we doing back here?!?!"
Chris: Taking deep breaths "I don't know, this is kinda dumb."
Kodi: Pant Pant "This is awesome Mom and Dad, lets play in the woods some more."

Kara: "Why did we run AT the truck?!"
Chris: "He'll never suspect us here!"
Kara: "What are we, 12?!?! Are we playing Fing Manhunt?!"
Chris: Grinning "Yeah, stay low, follow me."

I guess after seeing the truck, my mind decided maybe we weren't so legit after all.

So we got our adventure for the day, ran a little over 3 miles back to the initial fence we weren't supposed to trespass, and went home. Thankfully, we managed to make it home on our own 2 feet without help from any police officers.

One day we'll grow up. Maybe.

<3
Kara

Mr. Bill

I didn't know about the late 70's character from Saturday Night Live called Mr. Bill. I was born in the early 80's, grew up without cable TV, and I had to be in bed before the street lights even came on most nights. Saturday Night Live didn't exist to me until I went to college in 2000.

My ignorance of Mr.Bill changed shortly after Christmas. I really am lucky and blessed to have a wonderful Mother-in-law, but I think I would've been perfectly fine not knowing who Mr. Bill was for the rest of my life...or at least not knowing his infamous saying and hearing it over and over and over again.

My MIL sent Kodi a Mr. Bill plush dog toy that yells "ooooooohhhhh noooooooo". I wasn't really too worried about having to hear Mr. Bill yell because Kodi has never allowed a plush doll, even with a squeeker, to survive more than a few hours. I don't think we've ever given him a talking plush toy though.

Kodi loves Mr. Bill. He chews on his belly alllll daaaaay long, and cuddles to sleep with him at night. I work from home, so I have to walk into the other room when I'm on conference calls. Having a toy yell "oooooohhhhh nooooooo" when I'm giving my status or talking over issues with people from my program is just not ideal.

Program dude: "How's your coding coming along Kara?"
Kodi / Mr. Bill: "ooooohhhhhh noooooooo"
Program dude: "That bad, huh?"
Me: "No no no no, see.."
Program dude: "Well, I can do xyz to try to alleviate some of your issues."
Kodi / Mr. Bill: "ooooohhhhhh noooooooo"
Program dude: "So, you don't think that'll work?"
Me: "No, I don't have an issue, I'm fine"
Kodi / Mr. Bill: "ooooohhhhhh noooooooo"
Program dude: "I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say you're not fine...I'll get right on this, thanks Kara."

I'm actually writing simulation code to input into someone else's design code. It's not interesting to explain, so I'm not going to elaborate. The guy who's design I'm simulating called...
Ring Ring...
Kodi / Mr. Bill: "ooooohhhhhh noooooooo"
Me: "Hello?"
Design dude: "Uh, is this a bad time for you?"
Kodi / Mr. Bill: "ooooohhhhhh noooooooo"
Me: "No, it's fine. Sorry about that. What's up?"
Design dude: "Umm...I, uh, I heard from Program Dude that you're having issues, is my code okay?"
Kodi / Mr. Bill: "ooooohhhhhh noooooooo"
Design dude: In defensive voice: "You sure it's not your stuff? My stuff is pretty solid."
Kodi / Mr. Bill: "ooooohhhhhh noooooooo"
Design dude: Now angry "My code is GOOD. Your STUFF is WRONG. FIX IT"
Kodi / Mr. Bill: "ooooohhhhhh noooooooo"
Me: "No, I, uh"
Design dude: "I'm not changing my code, it works!!!"
Finally, I get away from Kodi
Me: "It's not broken, everything is working fine, sorry...my dog has this toy..."
Design dude: "You FIX it and then call Program Dude and tell him it was ALL YOU. GOODBYE."
Kodi / Mr. Bill: "ooooohhhhhh noooooooo"

You can see why I'm not a huge fan of Mr. Bill. Fortunately for me, Kodi, FINALLY, ripped a hole in Mr. Bill. I did perform gorilla glue surgery because I actually kind of felt bad for Kodi, but the voicebox only lasted a few more days and died this past week. Haleluya!!! Amazingly enough, Kodi still loves to play, and even sleep with Mr. Bill.

I think he finally thought he had a talking friend. He has always liked people more than dogs...but I'm happy to say: RIP Mr. Bill's voicebox, RIP!

<3
Kara

Goof Ball

I almost ruined my exercise goal by being a goof ball.

I love to dance and sing around my house. You can't be in a bad mood while dancing, it has to make you smile! I guess that's how I get to my happy place...that and running to music. Ha...most of the time I do both...I dance a little sometimes while running to music. I'm sure I look like the biggest dork ever, but I'm married and I really don't care!

So, how did I almost ruin my exercise goal?

On Thursday I ran 4 miles -- 2 fast (750 min mile) and 2 slow (10 min mile). My feet / ankles were a little tired. By the time Chris got home from work, it was raining. Chris doesn't do well with motivation for cardio exercise on his own, I'm sort of his cheerleader most of the time. Amazingly, he came home and went into the exercise room and started riding the exercise bike ALL ON HIS OWN. I was still working, so once I finished up and went into the exercise room, I was so impressed to see him riding the bike!

I picked up the 7 lb dumbbells and started dancing around the room, being Chris's cheerleader singing "Come on Chris, you can do it, put a little power to it...". I was never ever a cheerleader, and I definitely don't have the coordination to dance around with weights. Well, my tired ankle decided that was enough and gave out on me and twisted.

I iced my foot that night with the torture treatment (take a big 5 gallon paint bucket, fill it with ice and water, and put your foot in for 15 minutes, then take it out for 15 minutes, and repeat 3 times), which really does work miracles on injuries. I was not happy at the thought of not being able to play beach volleyball (which I've missed since NOVEMBER) because I was a goof. Good thing the torture treatment worked!

Erin told me I needed to come up with a better story on how I twisted it, but I'm a goof ball, and that's what happened! My ankle lasted through 7 games of doubles on the beach before I decided to call it quits. What's odd though is that I have a bruise up above my ankle towards the back of my shin. I showed Chris it and he said nothing surprises him with me anymore...he wouldn't be surprised if my butt started swelling from twisting my ankle. I'd be quiet peeved if my butt started swelling...I don't need any help back there!!

Hope everyone is having a great week!
<3
Kara

Taboo

Chris and I went over to our friends, Erin and Chris's (yes, having husbands with the same first name can be confusing) for dinner, drinks, and games on Saturday night. We played one of my favorite games, Taboo. I'm not great at the game by any means, but it makes me laugh every time we play it. We played girls against boys.


I call Erin my paper twin because she's blonde, an electrical engineer, plays volleyball, and is goofy and social still like I am...oh, and we both met our husbands in college and they're both named Chris. She also thinks a lot like I do sometimes, which is key to winning Taboo.

Erin and I generally are teammates when we're playing with just the 4 of us...Erin used to hate the game, but I think it's growing on her :-). You can't help but think some of it is funny. If you don't know what Taboo is, check out the Wikipedia for an explanation here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taboo_(game).

Some funnies from the past few times we've played Taboo:
Word: Diaper
My Chris: It's something that you use to catch the gross stuff on little people...it's permanent.
Other Chris: Permanent?! Skin?!
...maybe that's why we don't have kids yet. Chris thinks those things are permanent.

Word: Arena
Me: It's a big place that you use a ball to play in.
Erin: arena
Boys: Seriously? How'd you get that?!?!

We had my cousin, who is somewhat liberal over, and his boyfriend during the holidays. The teams were me, my cousin, and the other Chris vs. my Chris, Erin, and the boyfriend.
Word: Critic
My cousin: It's what you'd call someone that doesn't agree with me.
Chris: outcast, NO, Republican.
Really Chris?!?! Really?!

Word: Port
Kara: Tampa has one of these.
Erin: Port.
Guys: Wha?!?!?

Erin and I do that a lot of times...helps that we tend to think alike in how we describe words! Thanks guys for having us over on Saturday...we had a great time, as usual! :-D

Hope everyone is having a Happy Monday!! I'll post another update on my goals sometime this week!

<3

Kara

New Year / New Goals

Welcome to 2010!

I've started this blog and deleted it too many times. Hopefully I can leave and add to this for all of 2010. That's one of my goals for this year. I never know what my blog should be about, I always have so much going on in my life. I worry too much about what other people think too, and sometimes I'm too quick to judge or too harsh on people. Having said all of that, I'll list out my goals for 2010.

1. Start and maintain this blog.

2. Focus on being a more positive person. I'm sort of sarcastic at times, which I still think is okay, that's part of who I am, but I need to see the good before the bad...the glass as half full, not half empty.

3. Be happy for me. I tend to do stuff to make everyone else around me happy and forget to take care of me. I get frustrated easily because of this. Within the next few years, Chris (my husband) and I will want to start a family, and I know this only gets to be a harder habit to break when that happens.

4. Find somewhere to volunteer.

5. Stay focused on health...what I eat and exercising daily.

I think 5 is enough for now...we'll see how that works out.

Happy 2010 everyone!!

<3

Kara