If I wanted frozen yogurt,

I could have just frozen a container of mixed berry yogurt.

When Steven moved out in June, I spent some time cleaning out the cabinets at the house. I needed space to put all of my kitchen supplies, which had spent the last year cluttering up the garage in five large cardboard boxes. (Had to make room for Scott's kayak, riding mower, and bicycle -- the garage is "man space" and since I've taken over every closet in the house, it's only fair that I take my junk out of the garage.)

I digress. The point of my rambling is this: while cleaning out a cabinet in the kitchen, I found an ice cream maker. I was fascinated - remembering the times as a kid when we made ice cream using rock salt and coffee cans. I decided that August is a great time to make some homemade ice cream, since it's about 100 degrees every day. Plus, I get bored at the house sometimes.

The adventure started with a frozen yogurt recipe that included yogurt (big surprise), frozen mixed berries, sugar, corn syrup and vanilla extract. I mixed it all together, and came out with a concoction that looked (and tasted) surprisingly like a container of Dannon mixed berry yogurt. That should have been my first clue.



I poured it into the magical ice cream machine, thinking of what a wonderfully delicious and rich treat this would be - creamy and tasty and reminiscent of the gelato I had in Italy a few years ago. I turned on the switch and watched with what can only be described as child-like delight as the concoction mixed and began to freeze.



After the allotted 20 minutes, I scraped the "frozen yogurt" out of the ice cream maker and placed it in a container to head into the freezer so it could "firm up" a bit. But let's not kid ourselves - I took a taste before putting it in the freezer. That's when I realized that I had spent an afternoon making homemade frozen yogurt, when really I should have frozen a container of Dannon and spent my time doing something productive, like watching Keeping up with the Kardashians (I know, shocking that I'd watch such trash) or painting my toenails. **Sigh**

But at least it looks yummy. So if you're in the neighborhood and you have a taste for some low-fat homemade frozen yogurt, stop by. I'm sure this will still be in the freezer for you to enjoy.

Now it's your turn.

One of my favorite things about Scott is his witty blogging. Sadly, he took a break from blogging to focus his most recent efforts on the pursuits of summer. This included exercising, coaching football, fishing, kayaking, and other such things. Because I work from home, and Scott wasn't at school all day, this meant that we had a good amount of time to see each other, and I didn't really miss his blogging because I actually TALKED to him, instead of reading the blog to see what was rolling around in that noggin of his. Now, he's been back to school for more than two weeks and has yet to pick back up on the blogging. This post of mine is intended to be a shove in the right direction -- he needs to start blogging again! If anyone ever reads THIS blog, I encourage you to go see www.wolfpackof3.blogspot.com, and make it known that you'd like Scott to start back up with his entertaining musings.

If I could do it all again...

I know it's been forever and a day since I wrote a blog post. If I'm being honest, this will probably be the beginning of another long period of blogger silence. But this one is for Grandma Fuchs.

If I could do it all again:

I would ask you to tell me the story of how you met Grandpa Fuchs, in your own words.

I would stop by and visit you more often.

I would ask you to tell me about your childhood, and how you spent your summers.

I would remember to send you birthday, Halloween, Valentine's and all other cards on time.

I would learn your favorite song.

I would send you notes occasionally for no reason at all.

I would go on hikes with you, and watch the Browns with you.

I would NOT cross my eyes in your special photos of the entire family.



I hope one day I'll get the chance to do these things when we meet up again. Until then, I love you. You'll be missed.

Winter wonderland

Hunting for chippies

Exploring the great white wilderness

Back home and wrapped in a warm towel.

Birthday Bonanza

Better late than never... This blog post was written in January of this year, and I've just now gotten around to adding the pictures and posting it. BTW, I hate the "add a picture" feature and formatting tools on blogger. I'm giving up on making this look presentable. Hope you can read it all messed up!

I realize that I can't really call myself a "blogger" if I only write a blog once every six months. I am not going to pretend that I'm going to start writing blogs all the time, or even every few weeks. I am, however, going to write a blog about the amazing birthday weekend that just took place. I knew Scott could be charming, but he definitely outdid himself this weekend.

I was planning on spending my 29th birthday in Baton Rouge with a low-key weekend, having movie night with Scott, Bethany and Dave on Friday night, and dinner with the Empsons on Saturday night. When Tam called to reschedule dinner on Friday night, I thought Scott and I would just go out to dinner and a movie and call it a night. Boy, was I wrong.

When I woke up Saturday morning, Scott had put out a card for me that said Happy Birthday (in Spanish, so I still don't know what the printed card says) with a note that told me to pack a bag and be ready to leave the house by 11am. No word on where we were heading...
I packed my bag, as well as about 14 pairs of shoes since I didn't know where we were going, and we got on the road (15 minutes early, I might add). The weather was amazing -- sunny and 65 degrees, which makes it the best birthday weather I've ever had!

We arrived at our first destination -- Liuzza's, a neighborhood joint in NOLA. And when we walked in, I was surprised to see Scott's mom and step-dad already there with a cake, balloons and presents! We had a great time, and great food, and great conversation. And a cute little cake :-) YUM!

After lunch we headed to the WWII museum, and spent 3 hours there with Scott's parents. It was a great learning experience for me (since I forgot everything I learned in high school), and it made me really appreciate what our veterans did for the nation and the world.

After that, Scott and I got into the car, and drove around NOLA for a few minutes taking in the sights. We found a place to park at the Holiday Inn (which is where we ended up staying Saturday night) and got back out on foot. The weather was perfect, people were everywhere, and it was a great night to see NOLA. We stopped and window shopped the art galleries, and then headed toward the Mighty Muddy Mississippi River. When we got there, I was cofused and surprised to see Tamara and Ryan just "hanging out" by Jackson Square. Surprise # (Ok, I've lost count) -- Bethany and Dave agreed to babysit Luke so Tam and Ryan could come for a night out on Bourbon with us!

We had a great dinner, and then headed to Tropical Isle. Why Tropical Isle, you ask? The Hand Grenades, of course! Instead of trying to detail the shenanigans in writing, here's a little montage that'll give you the general idea....

On Sunday morning, Scott took me to a brunch buffet. It was just like the dining hall in college -- Sunday mornings were the BEST days at the dining hall. Sunday brunch buffets may be one of the best ideas ever!

After breakfast, we wandered around NOLA with Mr. Tom and Ms. Jeri, doing a little shopping and experiencing the French Market. I think my favorite stall at the market was for Bedford Falls Headware (you can see their headbands here http://www.bedfordfallsheadwear.bigcartel.com/). Totally impractical and something I could never pull off, but fun nonetheless.

For the big finale, it was off to play the ponies! Scott's final surprise was an afternoon with more friends and family. Although it was lots of fun, I can't say I won enough to retire from my day job. Here are a couple snaps of the fun:

On the phone with my bookie...

Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? (I mean, Kelley?)

You might be wondering if my career as a blogger has ended. And to be honest, I may be wondering the same thing myself. But for now, I'll try to persevere, although I think that only one person checks this blog on a regular basis, and I see that person all the time so I think they're already aware of the facts below....

So here's the scoop:
- I am trying to fight the good fight and stay on a college student budget, seeing as how I am now a nearly-30 college kid. In an effort to do that, I tried to cut Brady's hair myself. BAD idea.
- School is going well. I just went to Memphis for a week to take midterm exams, and those were successful.
- I got into a fender bender with some kindly senior citizens on my ride home from one of my exams. Ooops. I bet my new insurance agent is soooo happy they picked up my policy a few weeks ago.
- I am working for a retail clothing store and hoping something else comes along, because let's face it. I am not in love with retail, or the fact that Black Friday is fast approaching and I do NOT want to spend the better part of my holiday season folding clothes and catering to customers that have grandiose visions of their own importance.

And that's all for now. What's going on in your lives?

Chemistry might not be so bad!

I am not sure if it's because I had a severe bout of insomnia last night, or if I am losing touch with reality, but I actually enjoyed my chemistry "experiment" today. Now, you might be thinking "that's great that Kelley likes chemistry since she wants to be a nurse." But the fact is, no one likes chemistry. Except for my friend Joe that has a PhD in chemistry and Mandarin Chinese (but I think we can all agree he's a statistical anomaly).

Here's why I am surprised that I like my experiment. It consisted of watching ice melt in a glass of water for 1 hour.

So do you think I'm delusional now?

I do.