Karenlicious

Austin, TX

Karen — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 03:52:02 +0000

It’s official. Rob, Kathryn F, and I have moved to Austin, TX! Am I an official resident? No. Have I moved into our apartment? No. With miscommunication, phone calls, waiting, deal cutting, and eye rolling, we’ve spent the last 3 weeks in a HoJo. The bright side to this is we move into the apartment in 6 days. The three of us have gotten the following jobs: File Clerk, Cocktail Waitress, Programmer, and Environment Saver. I’ll let you figure out which job(s) belongs to whom. Having jobs is great. Not only does it allow us to make money, it gets us out of the hotel room, which is housing 3 people, 4 dogs, and a 3-legged turtle. Cramped much?

My job is part time, 9-2 Mon-Fri. This will be great for unpacking boxes, running errands, and being a general hooligan.

Here is a picture of our future apartment door:

Fun stuff!!

I’d type more, but I’ve run out of things to say.

Canoeing, Oh boy!

Karen — Mon, 10 May 2010 14:57:14 +0000

Yesterday Rob, Kathryn F., and I tootled on up to Jackson to fetch my canoe. Mom left it for me when she moved to ABQ…over a year ago. Oops. I’m happy to say I’ve finally gotten the rope and time to retrieve it. As you all know, we’re moving to Austin in three short weeks. There’s a river that runs smack dab down the middle of the city, so what better time to use the canoe than now??

The drive up there was pretty normal. We stopped by Kristin’s house to pick her up for lunch, then drove to Sal and Mookie’s, where we met with Alicia and Johnny. I split the Zydeco pizza with Kathryn F. and Rob, mmmm soooo good! Andouille sausage and crawfish tails, seriously, it doesn’t get better than that. After eating, we headed back to Kristin’s, where I sadly didn’t get a picture of the four of us walking with canoe over our heads. Rob tied it up, we got the oars and motor, then headed back. Yay!

This was before we hoisted it upon the car…

This was after!

Thankfully, the canoe made it back no problem. No snapping rope, no flat tire, AND we had the storage key. Booya.

Tissue Paper Flowers

Karen — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 13:17:22 +0000

I’ve been working all week on tissue paper flowers for April’s birthday party. I’d never made them before, but I still suggested learning how to make them to use as decoration. So for days, I’ve been accordion-folding, trimming, twisting, and fluffing these things, making them in all sizes. The color theme is purple, yellow, and white, but somehow pink made it’s way in with the others. Hm.

I bought $20 worth of tissue paper, so we had an abundance of these flowers.

Prettttty flowers!

Bartering Services

Karen — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:21:40 +0000

Several days ago we sold our couches and end tables to a coworker of mine. I’m all about bartering services/things, so we worked out a deal where she pays half the agreed price, and her husband details my car. It saves her money, it cleans my car, and it makes my apartment less cluttered with over-sized couches. That’s 4 items we won’t be hauling to Texas! Kathryn F. moved out of her apartment, and until we all moved in June, she’s letting us use her couch. This helps her move less things around town for the time being, and helps us have a couch. It’s a win-win situation.

Another bartering service I’ve done is portraits. For several months I’ve drawn portraits for a friend, and in return she’ll cut/dye my hair at a discounted, if not free, price. I hope to find more people wanting portraits or drawings done. It’s a good way to make a few extra dollars or trade services. Speaking of which, I’ll really miss having my hair done when I move. You see, it’s not that hard. Cause and Effect.

Hair=Portait. Easy stuff!!!

If anyone wants portraits, just message me! I like the practice, I like the money, and it’s fun!

Do any of y’all barter services? No, not thoooose kind of services. Get your minds out of the gutter!!

Austin, TX

Karen — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:03:25 +0000

As you all know, Rob , my neighbor, Kathryn, and I are moving to Austin, TX this summer. June 1st, to be exact! We are all very excited about the move and have begun the process of ridding our apartments of excess things. I hope to have a yard sale in the upcoming months with my friends’ willingness to let me use their ginormous yard. : ) Our plan is to keep what’s necessary and get rid of what’s not. Of course, keeping the large amount of kitchen appliances is very necessary, as well as keeping the 6 pizza pans we have. These things come in use at the most random times.

In other news, I think I’ve crossed off a goal for this year; picking my major for a Bachelor’s degree. Drum roll please……(trill)………….Interior Design! I’m always leaning toward some sort of art degree, but I’m not too keen on Graphic Design for myself, so why not this? It combines money making with an art aspect, so this may be as good as it gets. On the down side, it will require 5 years of school. On the upside, there’s no time like the present, and the sooner this happens, the sooner I get the degree. I would finish when I’m 27 or 28, but I’d hate to be starting at that age, like so many. I’m not getting any younger! Think of it as being the frilly side of Architecture.

The rest of my resolutions have been going pretty well. I’m still bathing the dogs, keeping the apartment nicer, and started exercising again. After work today I plan to take all my clothes out of the closet to see what I want/don’t want. Fun stuff.

Clean dogs:

cleeeean

Cornbread

Karen — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 02:17:07 +0000

Today I’ve quit my job and named my flying squirrel. On to the fun part…

Rob and I found a baby flying squirrel on the ground on Monday! We finally named him Cornbread, and he loves puppy milk. Here’s a picture:

Isn't he cute?

He’s the new addition to the Sayers’ household. Say hello, everybody.

You Say Tomato, I Say Tamale

Karen — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 17:44:48 +0000

Rob found a bag of Spinach Tamales last night at the local Corner Market. They were pretty tasty, but I know that I could make them even better. I think I’ll experiment with two different spinach recipes to divide among the large batch of tamales that will inevitably be made. Mom made some awesome tamales using only cheese and sliced green peppers. Nomnomnom! I’ll do a follow-up post on this. It may be awhile though.

I’ve been lifting weights with Bonita the past week. Today makes the second week, I believe. That’s going well and I hope to keep it up. Rob wanted me to start training for a 5k to do with him this Spring, and I’d started to, but now my knees are hurting too much to keep going until it heals. I’d gotten up to jogging a mile though, woohoo! Maybe I can start back out doing a mile. Maybe. Maybe not.

2010 Goals

Karen — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:53:59 +0000

I see more and more people referring to resolutions as goals. I supposed it sounds less intimidating; it may help! So here are my goals for 2010:

Lose 14/15 pounds. I never met that goal last year, but it doesn’t mean I can’t try again!
Keep the apartment a little bit cleaner and smelling nicer
Give the dogs a weekly Sunday bath
Move to Austin on little expense
Convince my boss to give me decorating lessons, although this will benefit her in no way
Figure out a major for a bach. degree
Do as many drawings/portraits as possible!
Fly to Germany by myself or with Rob, to see Tammy and the many sites.

I don’t think this list seems too bad. I lost 10 pounds last year, so I was halfway to my goal weight. This year I plan to run a 5k with Rob. Not sure when, but I’ve started training for it, having run a 1 mile distance so far. I drew maybe 7 portraits last year, so that’s a good start. We’ll just have to see.

Christmas is around the corner….

Karen — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:40:50 +0000

I would just like to state that Christmas is next week, and my early shopping has paid off! So many of my customers at work are complaining about their own procrastination; most haven’t begun their shopping. I started mine in October, did my cards in November, and finished up last week. Most of my gifts are wrapped, I just need to ship mom’s today.

Rob and I are driving to Arkansas to see his parents and relatives. Work closes early, at 3:00 pm, on Christmas Eve. Soon after, we’re driving to Jackson to do Jewsmas with Nikki at 6pm. Christmas with the siblings is at 9:00 pm, then we’re sleeping at Kristin’s house. Christmas morning, Rob and I are leaving eeearrrrly to drive to Fayetteville, Arkansas. We return Sunday. That should be nice!

Jewsmas at Nikki’s is always fun. It’s just a friend’s Christmas we’ve all been doing for a few years with a mix of nice gifts and happies. We always have the help of her cat’s with the wrapping paper, and we all just have fun. I think this is my third Jewsmas with her. Maybe fourth?

Italian Cream Soda

Karen — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:14:47 +0000

I’m at Javawerks right now with Alicia, drinking an Italian Cream Soda, helping her answer questions for a paper. I kind of miss coming here to work on my schoolwork. Maybe that’s because I have no more schoolwork at all. Aw.

Christmas is just around the corner, and I’ve begun my shopping! Although I don’t have that much money to spend, I want to get everyone nice gifts. I’m already anticipating the decorations! I don’t know where we’ll be going to celebrate this year. I need to call Rob’s dad to find out if he and Shelley are coming here, us going there, or what. I like planning!

I’ve been doing more portraits and drawings lately. It’s been fun..I’m hoping more people will want portraits.