A Dozen

 Happy 12th Anniversary to my DMP.  I know it sounds cheesy, but when we got married 12 years ago, I coudn't believe that I could love him any more than I did then.  I've never been happier to be wrong!  I love him more and more all the time and I'm so, so looking forward to what the rest of eternity will bring us!

For My Next Trick, I'm Going to Need a Knife and a Jar...

Lookee what I made using a pool noodle, duct tape, clothesline and some fake flowers. I'm like crafty McGuyver! 

I got all the supplies from the dollar store and it cost me $8 total. I totally can't take credit for the craftiness, I got the idea via pintrest. You can find out how to make your own here.

P.S. To those non-Kinsel's reading this blog, the title comes from an old home movie where my big sis Jenn does a magic trick. After she is done my other sis Bek pops in and says "For my trick, I'm going to need a knife and a jar...".  Alas, whoever was filming turned off the camera at that point, so we don't really know what she intended to do with that knife and a jar.

The Big Chop!

Sooo, Texas doesn't like my hair. No matter what I did it went crazy and frizzy. I pretty much kept my hair in a ponytail, claw clippy thing, or braid every. single. day.   You can see from these "before" pics that it was pretty long, but also frizzy.  Also, you can't see it, but it is HOT!  I don't know how EJ can stand her long hair (it's almost to her waist these days).

My friend Holly has a great stylist who does cute things to her hair, so I decided to free my hair from it's perma-ponytail and chop it all off!  This isn't the best picture of me, but you can see my new hair cut. What do you think?

Vacation Bonus! Mak Gets Pooped On

Our vacation was so jam-packed with awesome, I decided to include some bonus posts in addition to the daily recaps.  I'm a giver like that.  Here is the first:

As promised, here is the video of the first time I got pooped on...  Please just make me feel better by saying you are laughing with me?  At least I didn't get puked on later. DMP and I had a long discussion about which was worse.  He claimed puke was worse because the lorikeet poop was clear, so it just dried (the other bird poop landed in my hair, BTW).  I say it's a draw.

The First Decade

It would be cute to have some pictures of our wedding for this post, but I'm too lazy to have them scanned and they are all on old-fashioned film negatives. I'll add it to the to do list :)

Happy 10 year anniversary to us!

Gettin' Off the Sauce...

OK Blogoverse- I'm gettin' off the sauce (the Diet soda sauce...). Since my work made all bottles of soda $.50 in the machines, I've become a 2, count 'em TWO bottle a day girl. So very, very sad. So, I'm starting out (again) to get myself off the sauce (again). I've read some articles recently (unfortunately I can't find them to link to them right now) that suggest that drinking a lot of diet soda (and, in particular consuming artifical sweetners that go with it) aren't the best for my health :)

Oh yeah, and there is the whole "addicted" thing. I don't want to be dependent on it and it has become a habit that I need to break.

So here I am on day 3. If anyone feels like de-lurking to cheer me on, I won't mind a bit!

No need to wonder why I am the way I am

I love food. It is a VERY important part of my life (perhaps that is why I'm sucking at Weight Watchers??? Damn you cheese fries and ranch!).

I was amused by the comments left by my family about my fried chicken and wafffles comments. Several members de-lurked to also ponder this strange-yet-strangely-compelling dish. I come from a family of foodies, I tell ya!

Here is some more proof:

Here is a comment by sis Bek on another blog we both follow, Light Refreshments Served:

"Am I the only one in the world that enjoys both?? We love both events in our house and each event has annual “must have” foods… (Back in the day we used to host parties for these events, but now we have too many kids and are too lazy)… for Superbowl we always have those Bisquick sausage cheese balls.. um, yes please. We also do Cowboy Caviar….. for the Oscars we have baked brie w/ ham and garlic and blue cheese fondue (for the brie…saute up some large chunks of ham –think costco spiral sliced–place in bottom of small ish baking dish. Throw in 20 whole cloves of garlic (I usually buy mine pre peeled and sometimes roast them the day before), cut up chunks of brie…bake till the cheese is bubbly, serve with bread… you dip the bread in the brie, smear on some roasted garlic and then top with ham…. sigh.. I love food…"

I read this and was literally drooling. I didn't know blue cheese fondue existed, but hook me up, Bek!

A couple of weeks ago, another sis, Jenn, sent an announcement to the fam that her COOKBOOK is thisclose to being published!

Even the "boring" eaters of the family (I'm looking at you Kate and Brad) appreciate good food- just so long as there is no condiment or vegetable touching it.

It all started with my Dad, I think. We used to think he was joking when he said he wanted to be buried with his pepper grinder, but know we know he is serious. When he kicks the bucket, we will ceremoniously grind pepper on his grave every memorial day.  Nice mustard was always a must-have in our house, too. None of that nasty yellow stuff for the Kinsels!

It is nice to finally know why I am the way I am :) It is all genetics.