Moving On Up

In the hopes of improving my blog, I am moving. Not far. Just down the road to http://acupofkaydee.com/

Hope to see you there!

C Is For Cookie

Growing up, my mom and I made a great team when it came to baking cookies. I only enjoyed making the cookie dough because it was fun to mix ingredients, and sneak a bite of the yummy dough. I didn't like to bake the cookies because it always took to long to finish all the cookies. I wanted instant gratification. My mom on the other hand didn't mind splitting the duties as she liked to bake because it allowed her to do other things at the same time. Although it would frustrate her when she would have a tray of cookies on the counter waiting to go in the oven when just as she was ready to put the tray in, she would notice that there were a few balls of dough missing because my brother and I would have stealthily stolen them. =)

Well eventually every child must leave the comfort of their parents nest and start a nest of their own. So the mother and daughter baking team was broken up. For the last 5 years my mom and I have had the hardest time with our cookies. They never turn out right. My dough is always greasy and the cookies come out of the oven flat. I have tried a number of different things. I even took all my ingredients and cookie sheets over to my mom's to have her help me figure out what I was doing wrong. We came to the conclusion that it was because I was not mixing the dry ingredients separately, but instead everything all together. (I don't remember having to do that when I was younger.) So back home I went feeling like my next batch would turn out just fine. It didn't. So then I thought maybe it was my oven. But I have used a number of ovens because of the various moves we have done and the cookies still weren't turning out right. I have gone over and over the recipe with my mom and I'm using the right amount of ingredients. After discussing with my mom some more, I thought maybe I was because I was using the wrong kind of flour and for 1 batch of cookies I was fooled into thinking that was it. But the next batch went back to being greasy flat cookies. (Meanwhile, Jonathan doesn't mind one bit. He will still eat the cookies no mater what.) Today I decided to try again. This time I added a cup more flour than the recipe calls for and presto, cookies back to normal.

Dough not greasy +

Fluffy cookies =

Yummy soft goodness in my tummy.

So mom, add more flour and see if that helps you. And mom, I do miss our team effort.

Friday 13th

I'm not a superstitious person, but with the morning I have been having, I just might have to be. Lets see....where to begin. I left the house this morning to do my normal routine of picking up and dropping off of work when I realized I left my cell phone at home. Upon realization, I started dramatizing in my head every situation that might happen to me where I would need a cell phone, i.e. breaking down on the highway, flat tire, and car accident. Oh, and if any of those happened and someone would come to my rescue...they might abduct me. I have such a wild imagination. Next I hit a thunder and lightening storm and my car died...twice. First thought...my worst imagination is coming true. Second thought...$$$. Is it possible that because I was in a thunder and lightening storm, the lightening is the reason my car died?? Who knows. I got the car running again and continued on my way. At my next stop, I discovered that I have a huge nail in my front tire. Now, the nail in the tire I don't believe is related to Friday 13th. I think this is directly related to the Lord punishing me for leaving the church board meeting last night in a bit of frustration. (We are currently in a building project and there are many nails and screws that have been left in our parking lot.) But that is besides the point. I found it on Friday 13th, so it gets thrown into the bucket with everything else that has happened today. When I got home I was looking forward to getting some lunch and starting my work. Well, the garage door opener would not work. Not a problem, I will just go up to the garage door and type in the code and get in. That doesn't work either. Hmmm...odd. I will just use my key to get in the front door. Nope, that would be in the house because I forgot to put it back on my keys after leaving it for the house sitter while we were gone. No worries, I will just go over to the neighbors to get the spare. Nope, they are gone for the weekend. Okay, I will call my mom to have her drive 20 min. to let me in. No, I DON'T HAVE MY CELL PHONE and I don't want her to have to come all this way just to let me in. So what can I do?? I think I left 1 window open. Please Lord, let there be 1 window open. Yes, there is!! I climbed in to discovered the reason for the garage door not opening is because the electricity went out in the thunder and lightening storm. Thank goodness 15 min. later it came back on so I could share my lovely morning with you all. Does anyone have some chocolate because I sure could use some?

Heat Wave

We have had some hot weather the last 2 days. I think that we even broke a record yesterday, getting up into the triple digits in some places. I was so hot, there was fire between my skin and my clothes. It is times like these that I wish I wasn't working at home in a room with 2 computers and not much air circulation, but in a nice office with comfortable air conditioning. I shouldn't complain. I know it could be worse.

I thought I would share some photos from our trip of the cutest twin "girls", as I do have twin nephews. I just wanted to put them in my suitcase and bring them home with me. They are so adorable. I spent hours putting together this cute scrapblog thing set to music and stuff, but I just can't get it to upload to my blog. So if somebody knows how to do that, please help. For now, you will just have to enjoy the jpg's and hum a little ditty to yourself while you look at them.

Home Is Where My Bed Is

Every time we are away from home for a while, there is one thing I miss the most...my bed. We are home from Wisconsin and my bed and I have been reunited. Now we have to get back to the grind of life. My brain is too tired to write much today. So...until tomorrow.

Women Of Faith Weekend

I know it has been ages since I have posted anything. I just haven't felt like I had anything inspiring, interesting, funny, or worthwhile to post for my few, but dedicated, fans. Never fear, I am back, but only for a short while as we will be leaving on our nations Independence Day (what were we thinking??) for a quick visit to the cheese state (Wisconsin, for those of you who don't know which one that is).

I was in Seattle this weekend for the Women Of Faith conference. It was such a great time of singing, laughing, and encouragement. We even had a celebrity there. Amy from TLC's "Little People Big World". That was pretty cool. I didn't get to meet her though.

It was gorgeous the whole weekend and while we were on our breaks in between speakers, my camera got a good workout. I'm no professional, but I can dream.

Look at all the women of faith.

Fountain of Youth

Boys will be Boys

Caramel Apple, Yum!

Cute kid, not mine.



Even the older are young at heart.


Helping Hands



Pike Place Market

I've got my eye on you.

Keeping Up With The Joneses

I ventured outside today to do a little gardening. I hate gardening. I don't have a green thumb at all. When we were looking for a house, one of the things that was on my "must have" list was a big yard. I wanted to have room for entertaining and for future little Arndt's. The house we bought had the perfect yard. Some lawn in front with already beautifully planted flowerbeds and a huge yard in the back. We have been in the house 2 years now. The lawn is full of moss and the flowerbeds have been a pain to keep up. I'm pretty sure that our neighbors think that we are a disgrace to the neighborhood. Every spring I look out our front window and see all the neighbors out weeding and maintaining their yards, thinking to myself, I should probably get out there and do mine. Well I'm sure the neighbors were all on the phone with each other today saying "Look! Kaydee finally got her muffin top off the couch and is weeding her yard!". I am happy to say that the front is almost complete. My body hurts from hair follicles to toenails, but I made a dent in the yard and I am proud of it. Thank God that they can't see the backyard.

Free Means Free

We had a garage sale today at our church to help raise money for our missions trip to Mexico this summer. We had a free car wash...free Italian sodas. It went pretty well. We had a lot of crap(and I do mean crap: old couches, clothes, toys, enema kit???, etc.) to sell. Whatever we didn't sell at the end, would be taken to Value Village. We sold a lot, but we still had quite a bit (more than half) left with less than 2 hours remaining before closing. So we decided to stand out on the street with signs saying "It's All Free". Oh man....it was like a stampede. We had a traffic jam in front of the church. People could not get enough. They were stuffing their cars to the rim. Some would even come back for a second load. I couldn't believe it. Within and hour and a half we were practically cleaned out.

The Saddest Part About Summer...

Would have to be the seasonal end of my favorite t.v. shows. Now for the summer I am reduced to watching the painfully horrible "America's Got Talent", which I am reluctantly watching right now.

Please, lets have a moment of silence for the missed programs...

1. The Office
2. Lost
3. Brothers & Sisters
4. CSI (only the original)
5. Notes From The Underbelly
6. Law & Order (all of them)
7. October Road
8. Gray's Anatomy

5 Years Baby!

Today is our 5th Wedding Anniversary!! I cannot believe it. It feels like we were just married, but at the same time it feels like we have been married and friends forever. In 5 years, we have had great times and we have had rough times, but I wouldn't trade anything. Those great and rough times have only made our marriage what it is today, strong. I am so thankful that I have Jonathan to share my life with. He is strong where I am weak and he has such a caring and helpful heart. I truly am blessed.

I knew our marriage would last because we survived a disastrous honeymoon. Five years ago I couldn't laugh at it, but now...I just have to.

Lets see...it started off great. We spent our first night in a great hotel in Seattle. Well...we almost flooded our hotel room with bubbles from the jetted tube (make a note people...you either use the jets or you use bubble bath, not both) and Jonathan almost lost a finger when he reached into his bag and sliced his finger on his razor.

Our next adventure was to a cabin not to far away, but nice and secluded with a great view of the water. Some family had stocked up the cabin with stuff for us and we were looking forward to just a relaxing week together. Well disaster stuck again. The second night we were there, we had just settled down to watch a movie when all of a sudden...Kaydee was not feeling so well. I spent all night in the bathroom. I didn't know whether to sit on the toilet and hug a waste basket or hug the toilet and hope for the best. I was so sick. I thought maybe I had food poisoning, but it didn't pass...I had the worst flu of my life. The next day I was still feeling so sick and I couldn't get out of bed. We decided to pack up and head home where I could be more comfortable in my own bed. Jonathan was so sweet. He let me just sleep while he packed up all our stuff and cleaned the cabin.

Now comes the even bigger disaster and embarrassment...We had to take a ferry to get home and I was just sicker than a dog so we stayed in the car. Remember when I said earlier that I didn't know whether to sit on the toilet and hug a waste basket or hug the toilet and hope for the best? WELL...lets just say the the best did not happen in the car. There I was a grown woman who crapped her pants next to her husband while sitting in the car. I just cried and he laughed. I sat in "it" all the way home. I was mortified. But again...Jonathan came to my rescue. While I waited in the car, he went in the apartment, started a bath, came back with a towel for me to hide my "accident", got me in the house and settled in the bath, and then went back out to the car to clean it up. Now that is love.

Jonathan, I love you!
Here is to many more years of fond memories together.

It Must Be Understood...

I have to have 2 things everyday:

1. Some form of chocolate or I will go CRAZY. (Come on ladies, you know what I mean.)

2. U2 music. Why because they are the best band ever.

Thank you, and goodnight.

There Is Hope For Me Yet!

Well (feeling a bit frustrated)....since the ancient computer referred to in my last post is on the fritz today (I think that it's time to upgrade don't you?) and I can only take so much of the laundry and house cleaning, I decided to experiment with my hair after a lesson at lunch from Whoorl.

See, I have very straight hair. Not even a hint of a curl or wave. Very sad I know, but it's true. I've always wanted curly hair. ( I can hear my mom now..."If you had curly hair, you would want straight hair."...and she is probably right.) I even went as far as getting, on more than one occasion in fact, the very-awkward-hideous-never-should-have-done-that spiral perm in the early 90's.


Yikes! It doesn't look anything like I wanted it to.

I also tried using curling irons (apparently the wrong way...I didn't know you weren't supposed to use the clampy part), but my hair just doesn't hold curl very well unless I use a whole can of hairspray and then my hair just looks and feels nasty...and like I used a whole can of hairspray. Funny how that works. So eventually I gave up. I would have to come to terms with the fact that my hair was just going to be straight. And for many years I haven't done anything with it. It's been the short straight and the long straight. Currently it is the long straight so I can just throw it up in the messy ponytail and forget about it. But after the lesson today....I think there is hope for my hair. Praise the Lord!!!


My arms sure feel fatigued from holding the curling iron up over my head for so long. (I'm sure I will build up those muscles and get faster.) Now I haven't perfected it yet, but with practice, I think I am on the road to success.

Things to add to shopping list:
1. Good hair product.
2. Ceramic curling iron.
3. Get eyebrows waxed!! (Man, how did I let those get so unruly??)

Now back to house work and laundry, but with my new sexy locks.

Welcome To KAT...

Kaydee Arndt Transcription that is. This is where I work. Yep, I work from home as a medical transcriptionist. What is a medical transcription you ask? Well, have you ever seen your doctor walking around the office talking to himself? He isn't. He is dictating your office visit into a dictaphone. I then get the little itty-bitty tape and transcribe it onto the computer and it gets printed out and sent back to the doctor's office to go into the chart. I know, very technical work, but I love it.

Let me give you a little tour.

This is my desk. As you can see, everything is easily accessible and I cannot keep it clean. I try, but it always goes back to looking like this. I have everything I need here.

Lets see, we have the ancient Compaq Presario (don't laugh, we do have a newer much nicer computer, but this piece of crap is what I use). We have all the sticky notes with the words that I can never remember how to spell around the blue screen of death. (again don't laugh, spelling was not my favorite subject in Homeschool land).

I have a printer that doesn't work with the ancient piece of crap, so it just holds tea for when it is tea time. Miscellaneous papers, the house phone, the cell phone, plastic bag (not quite sure why that's there), transcribing machine, more sticky notes, the "pretty in pink" highlighter, tapes to work on (I am more than halfway done today), dictionary, medical dictionary, glass of water, pictures of family (everyone has to have those on their desk), and my favoritest thing of all...

...my Marvin The Martian coffee cup pen holder.

Well, that concludes the tour for today. Please return all listening devises to the front desk. The bathroom is down the hall to the left. The cafeteria is close and we are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you today. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Watch It Melt!

The ice cream I mean. Or maybe I mean the pounds?? Either way, they both are melting. Well, currently the ice cream is, but the pounds are next. (Crossing my fingers and hoping for the best)

I have been inspired to start Weight Watchers again thanks to Amanda (you go girl!), and the size 14 (YES....14!!) dress I just bought today for a wedding we are going to next month. But before I start...tomorrow, I am going to enjoy that lovely bowl of ice cream up there toped with Hershey's Chocolate Syrup. Yum! It is my last bowl of satisfaction. How sad. (Sigh)

So long ice cream! So long Hershey's Chocolate Syrup! And Bye-bye pounds!!

You're In My Bubble!

I was in the checkout line at the store purchasing the next 2 weeks worth of groceries when my "invasion light" was going off. That is right. I do not like my bubble to be invaded by other people, especially people I do not know. The checker hadn't even finished scanning all my stuff, and the next "group" (and I mean "group"...mom, dad, grandpa, monkey son, daughter, and humongous grocery cart with a monster truck on the front, which was not being occupied by either of the 2 children) were crowding my bubble. They were so close that the grandpa was standing directly behind where I was standing at the card scanner, the dad was unconsciously pushing the cart into my calves while monkey son was climbing on the monster truck and sliding off into me. I wanted to scream...
"Step back and wait your turn!"

85ºF and Snowing

Okay, it is not really snowing, but it looks like it. It is actually fluffy white cotton from the Cottenwood trees and it is annoying. Not only with how it gets in the house, but how in the morning I wake up congested and sneeze about 20 times before I'm even out of bed. Allergy season is here!! Watery eyes, itchy/runny nose, and scratchy throat. Aw, how I hate this time of year. (Are you with me Pops?)

I do love the sun though, but my mayonnaise skin does not. My first bad sunburn of the summer is slowly on the mend. I still match the pink colored shirt I am wearing today. I'm sure that it will start pealing soon (Yeah!), despite my efforts of bathing in Aloe Vera. (Another weird excitement of mine, pealing dead skin from sunburns. Don't judge me, it is fun to peal sheets of dead skin, scabs, and pop anything that has pus.)

Anyone For A Game Of Pictionary?

You guessed it! Kaydee's badly sunburned areas. I think the caricature is a little less embarrassing than a viewing of my actual self. Thanks to a lovely afternoon at my parent's house yesterday, I will be spending today in a bathtub full of Aloe Vera jell.

Like Butter!

This morning while fixing pancakes, I had to laugh at myself because of a little quirk I have.

There is just something about opening a new tub of butter. It is truly a work of art. Call me crazy, but I love the look. The rings remind me of a tree stump and that little cute dome in the middle always has a curly-Q like on a hot fudge sunday.

As a child I remember how excited I would get when my mom would open a new tub of butter. I always wanted to be the first one to dip my knife into it and take the little dollop in the middle. When someone had beaten me to it, I was genuinely crushed. I know, I know it's weird.

Back of the line people. I'm first!

Compliment or Foot Fetish?

The other day I was getting gas at Costco (because it is the cheapest place around). They always have some nice person walking around if you need help, and that day he decided to come and converse with me. We shall call him "Bob", an elderly man who could be my grandfather.

I was just standing there watching the dollars fly by when I noticed that "Bob" was standing close by staring down towards my feet. Not trying to stare myself, I just continued looking at the pump. Then he spoke.

Bob: "Did you do your pedicure?"

Me: "Yes I did." (Embarrassed that it's nowhere near professional)

Bob: "It's just beautiful. You did a great job. You could go into business doing that. You know people make a lot of money doing that? "

Me: "Really?" (Freaking out now and wishing the the pump would stop so I could speed away)

Bob: Proceeded to tell me about his wife and daughter, where they went to get pedicures, and how it cost a fortune, all while continuing to stare at my feet.