K.J. Binkens

I'd like to introduce to you one of my little sisters.



Her name is Kayla...but I like to call her K.J. Binkens. It reminds me of the days on the farm, where our biggest concerns were what was being served for dinner...and what kind of mischief we could possibly get in to before bedtime. It is amazing this girl still talks to me to this day. She was my human guinea pig. She enthusiastically performed any zany off the wall idea I threw her way.

"Hey Kayla, go touch the eletctric fence. It's not turned on today".

"Hey Kayla, sled down this 1/4 mile hill that's practically a sheer drop off, and while your at it dodge 97 cows along the way"

"Hey Kayla...eat this"

I was wrong on more than a million levels, but through it all she remained loyal to her big sisters' request. We've been through a lot. A lot a lot.






This girl is beyond amazing. At 21, she possesses more moral fiber and goodness than my big toe. As her big sister I aspire to be more like her. She is a phenomenal Mom to her son Logan, a fantastic wife, an amazing sister and a loyal friend.










For as long as I can remember, she's spoke of having a big family. She has a huge heart and amazing patience, enough to produce an Army of little chittlin's...and to raise them and nurture them into fine human beings.

Last week, at 21, my sister was basically told that she was not going to be able to have any more children. At that age, how do you take on something that HUGE?! At 25 I can't even begin to wrap my head around it.

I am completely heartbroken for her. I am angry for her. I am at a loss for words. But I know she has the strength of millions, and she will endure.

I love ya girl. Your my hero.

All Sorts of Busy

I apologize for being MIA. I got sick sometime between Monday and Friday of last week. I've lost all sense of time, so I've either been without a voice for a couple days or a week. Not really sure. Along with losing my voice and sense of time, I seem to have lost the Pep in my Step. If anyone has located said Pep, please notify him I'd sure like to have him back.

I'd like to share with you a snap of my clinical group. I'll be working very closely with this group of individuals over the next 12 weeks on a Med/Surg unit.



For 7:30 in the morning, we look pretty darn enthused if ya ask me. I iced my eyes that morning and you can still barely see them. I've learned to embrace the bags, they only get angry if you try to cover them up.

In other news...I am at a loss as to what I should do with girlie's hair.




It's at that extremely akward stage, one that I know all too well about. Where I'm not sure if I want to let the bangs grow out or just keep on choppin' em. She is totally uncooperative either way, so until she makes up her mind about what she wants she will be sporting the shaggy-bum-hockey player look.


I wish everyone a great week!

Is It Friday Yet?

It's been a long week. A long, rough, draining week. After almost two years of being joined at the hip with my daughter, she is realizing she has a father. Suddenly, I am invisible. The heart-warming welcome that I received the first week of school, has been replaced by more important things...like Yo Gabba Gabba marathons. I received a less than admirable grade on a test yesterday, despite my own marathons with nursing books. And I'm once again remembering what it was like to be seriously sleep deprived.

I realized last night that my Ben and Jerry's collection had been replaced with a much more fundamental element of the food pyramid.



Before you draw the conclusion I am a lush, I assure you there is no lushing going on here. In fact, I'm lucky if I can make it down to the label of any given beverage before I pass out of sheer exhaustion. I just have a tendency to collect things, hence the assortment of liquid nourishment.

I did a breakdown of the contents of our refrigerator. It goes as follows:

70% Condiments
20% Beverages
8% Ice Cream
5% Freezer Burn
4% Strawberry Parfait
1% Very Expired Yogurt (hey, I made an attempt to be healthy)

I realize this does not come to 100%. I also realize I currently lack the motivation to do math.


Despite eager attempts to make food magically appear, I assure you no matter how many times you go back and check...despite however many magical connotations you utter prior to opening the door, it will still contain 100% foodlessness.

I think it's time for a trip to our friendly grocer. Unless anyone knows of any delectable dinner recipes I can whip up with what I got.

When Animals Attack

Let me start by saying, I love my daughter dearly. She brings more joy and happiness to my heart than I ever thought possible to attain.

That being said, sometimes this kid just makes me stop dead in my tracks and wonder...



"who are your parents?!"


I'd like to introduce to you Quackers.



Kaitlyn had no choice in the matter about developing a fondness of ducks. Well before she exited my womb, it was predermined her stuffed animal of choice and item of comfort would be a duck. My Mom and I have this thing...I'm baby duck, she's momma duck. That's just how it is. I wanted to pass this on my own girl.

SO, now that we got the logistics out of the way...I'd like to share with you an event that took place not too long ago. It was early morning, and we were eating breakfast. As usual, Kaitlyn included Mr. Quakers. Here he is accompanying her on the picnic table for her morning meal:





There were even periodic pauses for smooches.



I don't prompt these things folks, they just happen. She thinks very fondly of Mr. Quackers.


Or so I thought.


Looking back, I think this may be the very moment when Mr. Quakers realized something just wasn't right.



The fear is in his eyes. The next thing you know, up leaps the girl and without warning ATTACKS poor innocent Mr. Quackers.







Oblivous to the flurry of feathers and pleading quacks, she preceeds to do a full on bum to beak pro wrestling move.



Just when I thought she was about to show this poor fellow some mercy, she decides to take him to the stairs.

*Warning* The following is not for the faint of heart or avid animal lover.








This girl then winds back and pummels Quackers repeatedly into the banister!





Just as soon as it began it was over. I don't know what caused my dear Kaitlyn to lose all composure and go on a duck pummeling frenzy. Maybe he eyeballed her cereal wrong. What baffles me is she has never been exposed to violence, whether it be on tv or anywhere else. I'm thinking these animal instincts are hard-wired in us all somehow. I hope this is no indication of what is yet to come in her teenage years.

Yeesh

It's Official

The summer could quite possibly be coming to an end. It was 64 degrees this morning when I left for school. I stepped out onto the doorstep, and did an about-face before my second foot even hit the landing. I actually wore a sweatshirt to school today. A SWEATSHIRT! My peeps back home would be thoroughly disappointed. There was a time back in Iowa where the temp would be in the teens or lower... and I would be running around in a t-shirt. What can I say, Texas will change a lady right fast and in a hurry.

I sure won't miss you 300 dollar electric bills.

My Partner in Crime

I got to see a good friend of mine yesterday. Her husband was my boss when I worked in the ER back in my Army days. Her husband is on yet ANOTHER deployment, I swear this man is gone more than he is home. Everytime we get together we have a blast, and yesterday was no exception...even if the kids acted like they just fled the circus. She just celebrated her much dreaded 30th birthday. :) I don't know what she is frettin'. Little brat looks fantastic, does she not?!










Her husband sent her some beautiful roses for her birthday, along with this gorgeous saphire and diamond ring. We decided to take some pics of them to show him how appreciative she was of them:





I love ya girl, it was awesome seeing you again. We need to do it again very soon!

Don't Mess With Texas!

So going back to our visit in Pflugerville, since I finally had the time to edit a few pictures. To recap we found this country housing development, with just gorgeous lakes and ponds and landscaping. Not to mention there were about a dozen horses roaming around the outskirts of the neighborhood. It was like my dream area to live. We're seriously kicking ourselves in the butts for not adventuring East a few miles before we decided on a house to buy.











But not everything can be perfect right?! I realized this after chasing Kaitlyn down to this little lookout area:






I picked her up to look at the fountain and noticed an odor loud enough to make your nose hair cringe. I looked down and saw this:



Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?! It wasn't just this one tiny spot, it was scattered everywhere. And it smelled like all the sewage from the neighborhood, heck the state of Texas, dumped into this little pond. Slightly disappointed.

Whatever happened to "Don't mess with Texas"!?