“Amidst all the clutter, beyond all the obstacles, aside from all the static, are the goals set. Put your head down, do the best job possible, let the flak pass, and work towards those goals.” – Donald Rumsfeld

- I, yes I went out last night.  I’m a spoiled girl.  I got to spend time with two very wonderful ladies.  And it’s not even my birthday yet! Awesome beer was had at Rohrbach’s, as well as conversation.  Then we hit the penny slots for a little bit at Batavia Downs and then livened up a small town bar afterward.  Great time – Even better laughs.

- I got ID’d twice last night.  That’s always a mood booster, right ladies?  The waitress even made an offhanded comment about me having a baby face.  I won’t lie – that kinda made my night.  Especially since I think I look so worn down and tired a lot of the time.

- My husband and I have plans to go out to dinner on my birthday.  I’m very much looking forward to that, not only because he’ll be driving and I can drink some more awesome beer (at Rohrbach’s) but because we need some time out, alone.  It’s been awhile.  (Thanks to my sister Kristen for watching the boys for a bit so this can be possible!)

- I have an appointment.  FOR MY NEXT TATTOO!!!!  November 18th and I can not wait.  I’m so excited. Check out The Ultimate.  My lady is Sue.  She did my sun tattoo last year.  I know she’ll make this one just as beautiful!  I won’t share what I’m getting until it’s on me.  Pictures will be posted for sure.

- I won a giveaway this week over at The Daisy Approach.  I won some Fiber One goodies (they make me fart but who cares right?) and a gift card to Safeway.

-I’ve kind of been a giveaway whore lately…not that I’m winning a lot of them but I sure am trying.  The one down fall from signing up on some sites is all the SPAM you get. I think I do to do another Comment-Love Letter comprised of SPAM emails and comments.  It always makes for a good laugh.  Have you gotten any entertaining ones lately?

- The wonderful lady above (well above the SPAM fragment) also sent me a little surprise at the beginning of the week.  She’s put a pretty big smile on my face this week!  Thanks Monkey Baller!!!

- I came home last night, pretty late, well for me anyways and I found a little surprise in the form of an email.  My wonderful blog designer, Eliza from THE STYLE DRAGON, stopped by my Monday post and saw that I was celebrating my birthday AND my blogs birthday.  And in a little email to me she wrote, “As a special gift for your and your blogs birthday we have extended your hosting by exactly one year – which means you have another free year of hosting(until February 2012).   Best wishes.” ( Thank you ELIZA!!  That’s an amazing gift.) If any of you out there reading are looking for simple, suggestive and Stylish Blog Design – get a hold of Eliza.  At The Style Dragon.  (awesome name right?)

- And then I woke up this morning to find an email from Sex Toy Day.  Did you know Sex Toy Day was yesterday?  Anywhoo, I was one of the first 1,000 people to send an email to MyPleasure containing my name, address and phone # and I won a free toy.  I don’t talk a lot about SEX here on the klutter but I’m pretty excited about this.

- So seriously, it’s only 5 days into November and I’m having a super fantastic birthday month already.  My blog is too!!

———————————–

- Today Gooberbutt and I are off to KANGO for a little bit.  He can jump on bounce houses there, climb on a gigantic climbing structure, and ride lots of different riding toys on their rink.  Today is their one year anniversary so he’ll get a free piece of pizza and some other goodies too!

————————————————

HAPPY FRIDAY!!

“I apologize”, it is Tuesday and for that last few weeks Comment-”Love Letters” has not been around.  I’m “All Shook Up” over it.

This week, it’s back, featuring one of my all time favorite stamps.

Welcome to Comment-Love Letters

#29

You don’t want your readers to think that “You’ve Lost That Lovin Feeling”, do you?

I sure don’t.  This meme is as easy as copying off the smart kids in class.

1.  Browse through the comments you’ve received on recent posts

2. Randomly or not so randomly select a few

3.  Copy them and paste them into a post

4.  Put them or don’t put them into letter form

5.  Link up your comment-love post here with me

“Easy Come, Easy Go”

Here’s mine:

Dear Kerri @ Kerri’s Klutter,

Those are probably the best bowling shoes I’ve ever seen, ever. And I know how you feel about the teachers getting the best of them… boo hiss.  I get my husband back from work the same way! Maybe I should stop packing his lunch and see what happens?  I’ve really been struggling with this lately (in my case I think it’s at least partly age) and have repeatedly told my husband that I am not enjoying it at all! My brain used to function far better but I suppose there was less junk in it back then!

You did an amazing job with this prompt! I had long since forgotten about dusty miller. And I love the idea of you knowing of your mother’s journals but having never actually seen them. Beautiful!  I can’t tell you how often I’ve set alarms for PM instead of AM…it sucks. I usually do it with my coffee pot timer for some reason. I expect to wake up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee and find that it hasn’t started yet. Not a major problem but not an ideal start to the day. I’ve also found myself laying in bed saying, “I’m the mommy – I should go” several times, too…it is nice when DH actually goes and I don’t have to ask him to play ROCK/PAPER/SCISSORS with me! :)

You are talking about me. I would give you examples, but I can’t remember. And that isn’t even a joke.  I’m incredibly, INCREDIBLY jealous.  Boston baked beans are a family favorite! Now I want some!! We had pounds and pounds flown in for the candy bar at my sister’s wedding. We have now got a whole new group completely addicted :)

Very cool :) I mess up couch pillows though. I don’t mean to, it just happens that way.  Happy to see you back in the land of blog.  I’ve missed ya.

Sincerely,

Your Biggest Fan

P.S.  You Ain’t Nothin But A “Hound Dog”

(totally added the last line)

——————————————————————

Did you spot your comment?

Please link up with me below and spotlight some of your favorite/best/ AWESOMEST comments

-even SPAM counts!!-

Have fun with the love!!!

———————————————————————–


It’s been M.I.A for a couple of weeks but it’s back tomorrow:

JOIN ME for COMMENT-LOVE LETTERS

———————————————————————————————

I didn’t get around to posting our menu for last week.

It was a busy week, much like they’ve all been lately.

We had Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore, Microwaved Stuffed Peppers, Broccoli Cheese Sausage Casserole (Aidan’s Favorite), welcomed in Fall with Caramel Apple Pork Chops (my favorite), Baked Ziti on Saturday and Slow Cooker Maple Country Style Ribs on Sunday.  We went out for pizza on Friday night (Jacek’s Favorite) and enjoyed each others company.

Now we are on the last week of September, welcoming in October by week end.

I went simple for this week to allow time to work on October’s menu some more.

Here’s what rounding out our September menu:

Monday: Steak on George w/Baked Potatoes

Tuesday: Oven Fried Pecan Chicken

Wednesday: Tator Tot Casserole

Thursday: Pizza Kit

Friday: Sesame Tilapia

Saturday: Mexican Stuffed Shells (Thanks ERICA!)

Sunday: Turkey Noodle Soup

What do you plan to eat?

Welcome To Comment-Love Letters

#28Dear Kerri @ Kerri’s Klutter,

Ohh! Change can be exciting! i wonder what you plan on doing? Hmm… GOOD LUCK whatever you decide to do! I live on the edge of not ready and bring it on! Good luck with your changes!

I’ve linked up to my post from last year about my fall favourites, but I’m in the works of a new one for next week with some new fall favourites!! I love fall as well!! :) Just have a few minutes to blog hop…so glad that I stopped here….Have a great week. Love your blog.

Bwahaha! Go home and blog about it…that’s what I do! I love this too. My sister in law considers blogging to be a step below stripping or producing sex tapes.

Coincidently enough, just yesterday I started looking into piano lessons for our two youngest boys! lol Great piece… I love the descripitve words you used… I felt it. I really like that. I liked the way it ended. At first when I thought – a large thing left unused in a house – a treadmill! But, no, something much more beautiful than that! I thought the writing was graceful.  Play it dammit, play it! lol!

Take it on with style!

Sincerely,

Your Biggest Fan

Thanks for the love!!

—————————————————————-

Now, pull a few of your comments and link up your love letter below.

Welcome to Comment-Love Letters

#27

Dear Kerri @ Kerri’s Klutter,

Awww. Cookies and hugs sound like a good way to come home.  I’m stoppin by from Shell’s! Loved your post-very thought provoking!

I am pretty jealous of you right about now…39 days of meal planning…You’re good! I wish I knew what we were having tomorrow night…lol! I WILL GET BACK INTO MEAL PLANNING beginning Sept 1st…my goal!  Crap I am wondering when my life became so busy!!! Love ya monkey ball twin! Happy Tuesday!

I love the imagery throughout. We used to jump off of the swings on purpose. We used to see how far away from the swings we could go. I think we also used to flip ourselves over backwards. I always wanted to have a swinging competition, but those moves were illegal on the playground during school hours.

Oh, that is so sad! Well written. And sad. I like the unexpectedness, the realization that came over me as I read. Haunting.  Wow. I never would have guessed that ending. Very powerful stuff. Great story!  Very sad but I like the way you presented it – it was a smooth transition between the woman watching the scene to her coming to and realizing her daughter was dead.

I had to read it twice, it was soooo good. What a story and ending. I would have never guessed. Intensely emotional. Excellent work. You are very talented.

As Always,

Your Biggest Fan

————————————————————

As always thank you all for the comment – love.

Did you spot your comment?

Wanna give some love back?

Link up your own comment-love letter below!

————————————————————————————

I was so excited when Shell asked me to be a BFF.

Who wouldn’t want to be Shell’s BFF?!?  She’s just that awesome.

Head on over to her place to “meet” her if you haven’t already.

While you’re there you can read my guest post about expectations.

Are expectations hurting who we really are?

———————————————————————————–

I’m also linking up with The Red Dress Club again today.

My post titled “She Was Right There” is my attempt at a dramatic entrance piece.

I’d love your opinion on it so please stop by and let me know what you think.

———————————————————————————–

If you’re stopping in from either place…Hello and Welcome.

My blog has taken a bit of turn lately.  I’ve been participating in several creative writing prompts and I’m really enjoying it.

I also post a weekly menu on Mondays with links to recipes I enjoy and on Tuesday I give my readers a shout out by copying their comments into a funny letter, with my meme Comment-Love Letters.  Try it out it’s really fun!

Saturdays I recap my week and ask others to link up with me for:

It’s a little bit of this and that here.

Peruse if you wish….and thanks for stopping in!!

Welcome to Comment – Love Letters #26


It’s easy as:

-Randomly choosing some comments left on  your posts during the last week

-Copying them and putting them into a letter format

-Linking up here with me

————————–

**This is a win-win meme.  You feel good re-reading your awesome comments, and your readers will love seeing their comments showcased**

——————————————————

Dear Kerri ,

Kerri! That was breathtaking! More please!  We like salmon a lot, so your salmon kabobs sound really good! :)   What a great dinner party idea!

I’d say you’ve captured a cat’s attitude perfectly. And if I (hopefully never) ever have two cats, I’m totally naming them Thing 1 and Thing 2. Brilliant.  I love it! You make me miss my don’t-give-a-damn miss perfectionist kitty.  Funny!! No mention of his hot girlfriend though??? heehee!! I love that cat!! He totally would have said all that and more I’m sure!!  Silly cat! That was too cute! Btw, I’m giving you a shout out on my blog tomorrow for the post you wrote last Friday for Red Writing Hood! Loved that story!

I really liked this. There was some really great imagery in it. I particularly liked, “As the shampoo and soaps are used, an array of aromas waft up on the billows of steam. “  There are so many good lines here. Your descriptive narration put me right there as if I were the character itself….that translates into very good writing. This was excellent. Excellent.

I have been awful about visiting and leaving comments lately so I can relate!!! I actually got up at 5am today and am playing catch up with all my blog friends!!! Eek! This kind of freaked me out. But your choices are great. Memory books & pictures are always top on my list of must-haves

As Always….

Your Biggest Fan

——————————————-

Can you copy and paste 10 of your comments from last week?

Yes?

There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to this and it does not take a long time……

But it does feel good to showcase your readers comments!!!!!

Give it a try!

————————————————————-

Got Good Comment-Love?

Share it with us tomorrow, with a Comment-Love Letter

———————————————————————————————————————-

So get this.  I have been overly ambitious.  Overly.  I now have 39 days worth of planned dinners.  39 days!  Does it make me crazy that I just want to keep going?  I really do, I want to do Octobers menu as well but I’m holding off a few weeks.  Mainly because I’m in search of some new fall inspired meals.  Got any?

The luau was this weekend.  Let me talk about the food for a second.  I had two 13lb pork butt roasts and I did the Kalua Pig in a Slow Cooker recipe. I started the pork at midnight on Saturday.  I let it cook till 9am and then flipped it in the crock and then it continued to cook until about 2:30pm when my sister and her friend pulled the fat and bones off of it.  We put the shredded meat back into the juices and let it warm until about 5:30.  It turned out amazing!

We served it on kaiser rolls with sides of BBQ sauce.  We also had garlic and buttered potatoes, my Daddy’s baked beans, coleslaw and a fruit salad fluff.

So good!!!

It rained on and off on Sunday and the humidity finally cut off so the evening was nice and cool.  We had grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner and it hit the spot.

Here’s what I have planned for the rest of the week.

MondayBroiled Tilapia Parmesan

Tuesday:  Slow Cooker Easy Roast

Wednesday: Spinach Quiche

Thursday:  Grilled Chicken

Friday: Slow Cooker Enchiladas

Saturday: Sausage Squash Skillet

Sunday: Tuna Melts

If time allows I need to mix up and freeze some cookie dough so I have some on hand as quick after school snacks for J.J.  I also want to make some zucchini bread or banana bread to freeze.

It’s almost that time of year!!!!!!!!  Hooray!!!!

**If you have  ‘em please leave me some recipe ideas for the approaching fall weather**

and

please come back tomorrow to link up your comment-love letter, the only meme that uses your comment love as way to say THANKS!

———————————

I contemplated not doing a comment-love post this week.  As a meme, not many seem to have interest in comment-love letters.  I have been bummed about it but for me it still makes sense to dedicate a post each week to those that read, comment, support and love me.

For now at least, Comment-Love Letters is sticking around here at the Klutter.  I’ll be switching it up from time to time…..I’ll still include a link up for anyone else that wants to join in and show some love.

Welcome to Comment-Love Letters

#25

I have been 150% awful at visiting, commenting and responding lately.  I know at the beginning of last week my numbers (that I do try to pretend I don’t notice daily) dropped a few.  I was grumpy about it and I honestly hope it’s not because I haven’t made my rounds lately.  I read, comment and respond as time allows.  Sometimes time just doesn’t allow.  It Is What It Is.

Last week I wrote posts to my husband and my son for their birthdays. Some of you wished them a happy day.

This is so cute. Happy birthday to your hubby! ahhhhhhh! OH my gosh how stinkin cute are you! Happy Birthday Darren!  Hope you and your family had fun celebrating your hubby’s b-day. I have a Polish Prince too! aren’t they wonderful!

A great big Happy Birthday for Aidan. Your parents and big brother are so lucky to have you in their lives. You are blessed. Have a fun filled, messy, do what-ever you like kind of birthday.  Happy Birthday Aidan!! Love you muches!! <3

I did not do a menu. I wrote about riding roller coasters and having fun with my hubby instead.

Sounds like a fun time!  That does sound like a fun time. I love amusement parks!   Did you go on the superman?? The drop is mind blowing!! :s

Comment-Love Letters only got 3 comments but 3 comments is awesome compared to zero and I’m happy for each and every one.

Fan mail IS a great thing!!! Looks like you got lots of love and support!!  A great letter Kerri and I have mine as a draft …ha ha ha I will finish at home and link it up cause it is easy to do!  Well that was a nice letter….you got a lot of great comments this last week!!! Love ya girl! I am so confused on days I knew today yesterday was Monday but totally thought today was Wednesday…haha! Nuts I tell ya!

I poured my heart out about being pain free after 4 months of struggling with what I now know was a left over tooth fragment from an extraction at the beginning of Spring.  As always the support you all show and offer is at times overwhelmingly wonderful. It’s like I have my very own cheering section.  I can almost hear you in my head.

OH Ouch I cannot imagine dealing with that 4 months and I have chronic pain. There is just something on a whole new level when it is in your mouth. Hooray! So glad you’re finally feeling better!!  Wow! Good for you. I am so glad to hear that the pain is gone and that you are back. That must feel AMAZING!  Oh man girl. That sounds awful. I’m so glad you got it out and are feeling better.  To say “What a relief!” is the understatement of the year! Wow. I’m very happy for you! I also loved what you said about those living with chronic pain being inspirational; that was beautiful.

I tried my hand at a short fiction story and was BLOWN away by your feedback, your encouragement and compliments.  Thank you!

Great story. I got a sort of 50′s noir feel from it, and I liked the receal at the end. Really well done.  The writing was beautiful and the ending was so touching. I liked how he was complaining to her about her. Well done.  wow, beautiful writing and GREAT dialogue. Loved it!  I thought that was fabulous, for lack of a better word. I could see it all happening. And, the male character was so well developed. He reminded me, honestly, of my father – a bit bitter.  That was a wonderful ending. I didn’t see that coming. Loved the “irritated flair” comment. Great job.  I adore how you set the scene but you remain focused on the relationship. I love the dancing, and the little details…the Rum and Coke….the battered wedding ring…the familiarity the daughter has with the place…clearly this not the first time she fetched dad at the bar. Well done.

and a few posts didn’t go live until way late into the evening but I still got comment love and lots of it!

Thank you to all of  you.  I am sorry if I have not returned the love on your blogs.

Hopefully I will have more “returning the love” time soon but for now this post will have to do as my universal:

“I LOVE YOU TOO!!!”

Welcome to Comment-Love Letters


#

It’s easy as:

-Randomly choosing some comments left on  your posts during the last week

-Copying them and putting them into a letter format

-Linking up here with me

**This is a win-win meme.  You feel good re-reading your awesome comments, and your readers will love seeing their comments showcased**

Here’s my 24th letter!  Enjoy and thanks for the love.  YOU make this letter possible!!!

—————————————

Dear Kerri @ Kerri’s Klutter,

I love comment love letters and I am not sure why no one else does…(well doesn’t link up) It is fun and easy to do =) Sorry my post has been up since last night but I just linked it because I am lame and forgot.

You are quite the storyteller my friend! Super cute!! Now I must go give myself that time out. ;-)   Journey is a great word! I love that you’re still reaching your potential too. I would like to think we’re all stretching ourselves that way. :)

I think so many women struggle with bouts of depression alone. When we’re feeling sad, we just don’t realize that there are others out there who have moments like that too, so we feel alone, which just makes us feel sadder. I’m glad you shared with us. You’re not alone out there…don’t forget that next time you’re crying alone in the laundry room. Hormones are a bitch!

You really haven’t had much luck! Wish I could be your neighbor! :)   My neighborhood is surprisingly unfriendly. We had hoped to make friends and have people to hang out with, but no way! And now since so many people are losing jobs, half the neighborhood is either rfor rent or the house has been foreclosed.

This is classic! Funny how I can’t get my kids to stay in time out, and yours tries to tickle you out of the corner.  I love your take on this – sometimes even grown ups need time-outs and I’m sure it makes a huge impression on your kids that you’re aware of that! :)   Every mom deserves a timeout. I know I do. Right now, actually. Please?

Stopping by from the Saturday Sampler. Your writing is beautiful and I can really picture your wonderful memories. How blessed you are to have such a wonderful, long time relationship with your sister!

Awwww!!

Sincerely,

Your biggest fan.

———————————————————-

Now get your linky on and show your readers some returned love!!!!!!!!!!

All you need is love…….