Tomatoes and blueberries and herbs, oh my!

I met Jill and Adam and the downtown Overland Park Farmer's Market this morning! My parents have been going there for years, and I've joined them several times ... and I love it more and more each time I go!

The fruits and veggies are so beautiful to look at and they are so yummy to taste.

The flowers are gorgeous and you can smell them from several booths away!

You feel like you are helping local farmers and growers, which is always a good feeling!

It gets you out of your house on a Saturday morning, when I would normally be in bed.

I bought some blueberries and asparagus for mom (which she tells me were SUPER expensive) and then helped A & J shop for plants for their new home! My condo was going to be super close to the market, and I was looking forward to walking there with Minners on the weekends. I guess this means that now I'll have to look for another house that's in the neighborhood! Anyone know of a place that's on the market around downtown OP? ? ? ? ?

The reunion!

Molly informed me today that if I'd like to go collect my dog-child and her belongings from Mom and Dad ... I'm welcome to bring her back to their house to stay! This is a HUGE step for Molly.

Molly is a strange one ... we had dogs growing up for pets (Morgan who was the best Wonderdog ever AND Sophie who might have been bi-polor but I loved her anyway) but she really wants nothing to do with pets in her house. I've griped about this several times, and she is sure to remind me that she loves Minnie and likes spending time with her, but doesn't want a dog of her own.

Their lovely house isn't really puppy-proofed. Why would it be? That may seem like a minor deal, but a puppy-proofed house has hidden wires, rooms blocked off, a quiet place for a kennel and a place where I could leave her unattended and not be worried. They do have a great backyard, but I haven't inspected the fence to look for hidden "sneak out" spots, and I know that Minnie will find her way under their deck and she may not come out!

I'm already thinking of how I can block her in the kitchen (it will take two baby gates) and where her food will be (in front of the fire place where there is tile?) and where she'll sleep (I'll have to consolidate suitcases and boxes in my room).

I think Molly was just feeling really bad for me since I have been away from her for over a week ... OR ... she was probably feeling really bad for Mom and Dad who have been in charge of her for over a week! Either way ... I'm very excited! Thanks, Molls!

Your Donations ... Part 2!

You should notice that I'm blogging AGAIN, just about an hour after I last did. I've since been to Target and brought home 16 new dog leashes ... that were just $1 each!!!

So, here's my challenge to you ... I'd like to create my own "Big Give" here via the blog!

I challenge you to help me add to this dog leash donation. You can run out to Target yourself and get just a few leashes (in the dollar section!) and either send them straight to one of the charities listed below, deliver them to one of your local shelters (make sure leashes are something they need), send them to me to add to my stash, or send me some moolah and I will personally go out and buy as many leashes as I can find in town to add to my current donation!

• The Lange Foundation
• Angel's Gate Hospital
• Main Line Animal Rescue
• Wayside Waifs (local shelter in KC)

Please leave a comment to let me know how or if you are willing to help! My summer has officially started, so I'm ready to do my own little part to help these animals! :)

The Lange Foundation - a place for your donations!

I've already written about this, but I felt it deserved another post today. Oprah's show today was a rerun of the "Puppy Mills" show that ran a few months ago. I previously wrote about Angel's Gate Hospital, which is a shelter for dogs that are unadoptable for various reasons or were close to being put down at shelters all over the country!

As I watched the show again today (and cried just as much this time as I did the first time), I paid close attention when they reported on The Lange Foundation! This is another shelter that adopts old, sick, hurt and unwanted animals from shelters ... and it is run completely on donations! If you browse around on the site, you will see that they also accept gifts like towels, toys, beds, leashes and food! After reading that, I'm going to run back out to Target to pick up some of the leashes I saw in the dollar section this week! That will be a simple way for me to do my part!

One of the founders of the MLAR (Main Line Animal Rescue) said that they have adopted several thousand dogs, cats and rabbits from "mills" and about 99% of them are rehabilitated and adopted out to loving families and homes! He said that some of these dogs have never been out of their tiny kennels, have never run outside, or have never stood on solid ground because their cages are made of chicken wire. He mentioned that he knows the dogs are rehabilitated in just about 2 weeks, and you can tell because they start wagging their tails! :)

Go check out these sites and organizations! They all can use your help!

From "Tulsa" to "Omaha"

We went to trivia tonight ... and had a blast! We had our gift card from our winnings last week, and we also have NO STUDENTS TOMORROW! Since the majority of us are teachers, this is a HUGE deal!

We won, (are you even surprised) and we even got home early. It was a group of eight of us, and even though I definitely didn't pull my weight tonight, I've been appointed my position as the "Gift Certificate Holder", so that assures me a role in the trivia evenings ... as long as we keep winning!

Because we haven't ever done this well, and haven't ever made it this far in the 10-week season ... I'm not really sure what the next step is. We are currently ranked 9th, which isn't that bad.

Anyhoo ... back to my title. When I used to live out south, we all used to joke that I live in Tulsa. I was about 40 blocks south of the rest of my world (work, friends, parents, trivia, shopping, etc). Now I'm about 40 blocks north of that same world! How things have changed! I called Jill on my drive home and she joked that she thought I might be calling to get directions all the way back to my current home! :) The good news about living where I am is that I have semi-close highway access! That makes driving much faster, easier, and much more gas-efficient! I've only been here for 6 days and I'm already getting 20+ more miles to my tank!

Okay ... off to bed. I've got more classroom stuff to pack tomorrow after packing for close to 6 hours today. I'll post pictures as soon as I can get around some wireless internet! Just wait until you see the mess that is my classroom!

Sisters who craft!

Tonight started out as a lazy evening in the Lund house! We all got home from work late-ish and tired. Molly picked up good sammies and then we all nestled in to watch TV. Sadly, there was nothing on and Erik took that opportunity to turn on the NBA games that apparently are on for the next forever nights!

Molly was tired, but knew that she wanted to work on some baby presents for her many friends that are new moms! I hope they aren't reading ... but also know that they have sleepless nights and are up with babies ... maybe they're reading the blog to help them get to sleep! :)

Anyhoo ... Molly didn't really want to get started, but I convinced her that I could help tonight, and the next two nights she is working later and I wouldn't be here to add 2 extra hands. So we started around 9:00 and just finished. It was NOT a quick job!

These are NOT the potato printed onesies and cloth diapers/rags we made tonight (so this isn't a complete spoiler!), but these were some of the first ones she made! Aren't they cute!? Be sure and let me/us know if you're interested! They make a great new baby or baby shower gift!

Sweets for the sweet baby!

Sea critters for your little critter! I especially like the crab for those wonderful days when the baby is crabby! :)

Tell me you're watching!

I just came upstairs from getting caught up on tonight's "Bachelorette" and working on report cards! Now that I don't have internet access on my laptop, I keep forgetting about this silly blog! It's hard to find time to post when I'm sharing a computer and I've got a trillion other things going on.

Anyhoo ... I want to know who is watching "The Bachelorette" with me! I like these so much better than "The Bachelor" and really haven't watched one of those in years! There is actually a guy from KC, MO on this season, so that makes it interesting to watch, too!

What do you all think? Who are your favorites? Who else wants to give Twilley, Jeremy and Sean the boot with me?!?!

I'm rooting for Jason, Ron (KC rules!), Graham and Jesse!

I don't see Peppermint on the list!

I was browsing around on MSN to see what the latest news stories are. I feel out of the loop when I don't have my own TV to scan and see what is going on in the world.

The first article that caught my eye was from Newsweek, "The Most Fattening Ice Cream Flavors"! I was debating whether or not to click ... because those of you that know me, know that I LOVE ice cream! I'll eat just about every flavor, so long as it doesn't taste like coffee at all. I didn't want to find any of my favorites on the list. :(

I got lucky! One of my very favorite flavors is Blue Bell Peppermint, and it's a good thing that it's only out during the holiday season, or I'd be eating it for 3 meals a day, every day!

Anyhoo ... here's the list. Are your favorites on here?

• 1. Häagen-Dazs Chocolate Peanut Butter (360 calories, 24 grams of fat). Look out for nuts and chocolate: the most fattening flavors tend to be loaded with both.
• 2. Ben and Jerry's Chubby Hubby (330 calories, 20 grams of fat). Vanilla ice cream with fudge and peanut butter swirls, plus fudge covered peanut
• 3. Häagen-Dazs Butter Pecan (310 calories, 23 grams of fat). It's one of the most popular flavors, but the abundance of pecans also makes it one of the fattiest.
• 4. Sheer Bliss Pomegranate with chocolate chips (320 calories, 20 grams fat). Yes, pomegranate juice is good for you. But don't be fooled by the name: cream, milk and sugar are the first three ingredients in this decadent concoction.
• 5. Ben and Jerry's Vermonty Python (300 calories, 19 grams of fat). Coffee ice cream with chocolate cookie crumbs and fudge "cows." Moo.
• 6. Coldstone Cookie Batter (300 calories, 16 grams of fat). The cookie batter mix includes molasses and brown sugar as well as flour, adding calories along with richness. Note that the smallest "Like It" serving size is bigger than a half cup; it has 380 calories and 20 grams of fat. The "Love it" portion is a full cup.